Best of BAM: Prophetic S-T-A-R-S in the Constellation of Biblical Prophecy, and Q&A

0:07 You're just in time for the best of the Bible Answer Man broadcast with Hank Hanegraaff, the radio outreach of the Christian Research Institute. Our purpose here at CRI is to equip Christians to provide biblical answers to life's most important questions, to read the Bible for all it's worth, and counter the teachings of cults and world religions that deviate from the plumb line of God's Word because life and truth matters. For more information, to order resources or donate, call 888-7000-CRI or go online to equip.org. That's equip.org. The following program was pre-recorded. Now here's the president of the Christian Research Institute, Hank Hanegraaff.

0:55 Thank you very much, Randy. Fearing the president's safety, Nancy Reagan, his wife, turned to a San Francisco astrologer for advice on virtually every move or decision that the Reagans made. Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar was slightly more skeptical. In the second year of his reign, he was troubled by a dream, and therefore he summoned the royal astrologers to explain the dream and to explain the meaning of the dream. You'll recall if you have ever read Daniel that The astrologers answered the king in Aramaic. They said, O king, live forever, tell your servants the dream, and we'll interpret the dream for you. Nebuchadnezzar would have none of it. If you do not tell me the dream, I'll know that you

1:51 have conspired to mislead me, he said. However, if you can tell me the dream, I will know that you can rightly interpret the dream. The astrologers knew their gig was up. They could no more tell the king his dream than they could tell him what the dream portended for the future. Only the gods can do that, they muttered, and the gods do not live among men. Knowing the mythology of astrology, the prophet Daniel turned to the God of heaven so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. And, of course, we know the story from Daniel. During the night, the mystery was revealed in a vision, and therefore Daniel was empowered to reveal the dream and what would take

2:44 place in the future. So Daniel was able to predict a succession of nations, and that succession of nations cannot be pawned off to good luck, to good guessing, or luck. to deliberate deceit. In my book, Has God Spoken?, I provide prophetic stars in the constellation of biblical prophecy, which, like manuscript copies in the archaeologist's spade, are powerful proofs that the Bible is divine rather than merely human in origin.

3:23 As God put it himself, I told you these things long ago before they happened. I announced them to you so that you would not say, my idols did them, my wooden image and metal God ordained them. Or as Jesus put it, I have told you now before it happened, so that when it does happen, you will believe. Counterfeit prophecy stars have one thing in common. They're consistently wrong.

3:52 In a lumen contrast, genuine prophecy stars are infallibly correct. And again, they point to the fact that God has spoken, that these are indeed his words. Has God spoken? Proof of the Bible's divine inspiration? Available for your gift to the ongoing work of the Christian Research Institute. You can order online at equip.org. When you write me at Box 8500, Charlotte, North Carolina, zip code 28271. Or as always, just pick up the telephone, talk to our resource consultants, 888-7000, and the letter is CRI. A lot of you hanging on.

4:36 Let's go right to the phone calls. First up is Kurt. Kurt is listening on Omaha, Nebraska. Hi, Kurt.

4:43 How are you doing, Hank? It's a pleasure to talk to you.

4:45 Likewise.

4:47 My question is, I've always been fascinated with King David's wife, just because he's made so many mistakes. He was a man after a dog's own heart. When they're He was supposed to take the census of 70,000. The angel killed 70,000 people, I believe it was. It was in that area. And then also, too, when he had— God allowed him to take Abigail.

5:10 I think it was his wife. And when that husband died, he was going to go murder him. Because if I'm not getting the names right, you know what I'm talking about. But anyway, God allowed him to have multiple wives and a concubine. And for future references, I always wondered, why did God ever let him get by with it? Because he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Why did he let him get by with that and not judge him or send the prophet and say, you shouldn't be doing that?

5:40 He did judge him. And you point out two egregious errors in his life. One was with Bathsheba, where he took Uriah's wife and had an affair with her. Then he had Uriah killed on the battlefront. Secondly, you point out the census, which may have been an even more egregious error in the whole economy thing, because it demonstrated that he trusted in the arm of flesh at that point far more than in the arm of God, who had made him king, the quintessential king of Israel. Now, what the Bible does is it gives us history. It's not airbrushed. We see the history with all its warts and moles and wrinkles. And David... likewise is shown with all his errors. But he doesn't get away with it.

6:29 The consequences follow his sin just like night follows day. The sword never leaves his home. And there's no way in the world that we can say that God sanctioned the sin. There were consequences to the sin. Clearly, David was under the prescription given in the Word of God that he would have been very familiar with particularly codified in Deuteronomy 17 and 17. You must not multiply wives.

6:58 And therefore, both David and his son Solomon, who, by the way, had 700 wives and 300 concubines, they were making alliances with other nations, one of the reasons they had the concubines and wives. And as a result of that, they entered into egregious sin, and they faced the consequences for that sin. So the question is, why does God allow us to sin? Well, he gives us the opportunity to make real choices every single day. And we can be like David, as David was in Psalm 51, and ask God to forgive us for our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and to restore to us the joy of our salvation, and grant a willing spirit to sustain us. I want to go back to the phone lines, talk to Stephan listening. in Cuba, Missouri.

7:52 Hi, Stephan. Hey, I'm really excited to get to talk to you. I got a van full of kids here. A few of them are mine and other ones are their friends. And they talked me into calling you or listening to the radio. And I was wondering if you could explain the Trinity to us.

8:09 Yeah, I've done that many times on the show. And here's the bottom line with respect to the Trinity. Trinity is a word that codifies what the Bible teaches about God's revelation of himself to us. And that revelation has three planks. If you think of a platform, it has three planks in that platform. The first plank is that there's only one God. So the Jews were fiercely monotheistic.

8:36 And what was communicated in the Old Testament with respect to only one God is, of course, communicated with equal passion in in the New Testament. So the Bible throughout communicates that there's only one God. However, in both Old and New Testament, and this is the second plank, the Bible teaches that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. And furthermore, the third plank of the Trinity is that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are eternally distinct. So to go over that one more time for the people in your van, there's only one God, The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, according to Scripture. And third plank, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are eternally distinct. And what that means

9:22 is the Father never becomes the Son, the Son never becomes the Holy Spirit. So they're eternally distinct. So the Trinity says there's only one God, one God by nature or essence, three persons within the Godhead. Now, persons is a word in this context that describes God. identities formed and completed on the basis of relationships within the Godhead, which is to say the Father sends the Son, the Son prays to the Father, the Son sends the Holy Spirit, and so forth. So we see that there are eternal self-distinctions within the Godhead. So when we talk about the nature of God, or the whatness of God, if you want to put it that way, there's only one. When we talk about relationships within the Godhead, there are three.

10:12 So I like to explain it this way. There's one what, one God by nature or essence, and three what. who's three persons within the Godhead.

10:22 Okay, thank you.

10:23 That was very well spoken.

10:24 I appreciate it.

10:25 You got it.

10:26 And again, I've said this many times in the Bible Answer Man broadcast, it bears repeating, we can apprehend God's nature in Scripture. We can't fully comprehend God's nature in Scripture. God is simply beyond our ken. There's no contradiction, but it is beyond our ability to fully comprehend. We'll be right back with more of your questions right here on the Bible Answer Man broadcast.

10:51 In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien's character Faramir voices the thoughts of countless soldiers throughout history. War must be while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all. But I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. If you too love what together we defend...

11:18 our faith, biblical truth, and our freedoms, become a member of CRI's support team today by calling 888-7000-CRI. And as our thanks, Hank Hanegraaff will personalize to you a copy of his complete Bible answer book, Collector's Edition, revised and expanded. Call 888-7000-CRI or visit our website at equip.org. That's 888-7000-CRI or simply visit our website at equip.org. Hank Hanegraaff will be back right after the break. With the new atheists increasing their mockery of Christianity, and militant secularism ridiculing religious convictions of all stripes, we clearly don't need zealous but misguided Christians inviting further abuse by misreading and misrepresenting biblical prophecies.

12:18 Hank Hanegraaff's book, Prophetic Stars in the Constellation of Biblical Prophecy, will enable you to understand, remember, and communicate biblical prophecy. Moreover, your investment in Prophetic Stars through the Christian Research Institute will equip and encourage eager Christian brothers and sisters who genuinely yearn for truth and reliable tools to apprehend and defend their faith. To receive your copy of Prophetic Stars as our thank you for your gift, simply call 888-7000-CRI, 888-7000-CRI, or visit equip.org. Bertrand Russell famously said, Most people would rather die than think, and many of them do. Not so with CRI support team members. Support team members are not only serious thinkers, but their membership in CRI's support

13:17 team helps to equip hundreds of thousands of fellow believers around the globe each and every month. Are you not a member? Then you're missing out. Not only do support team members form the backbone of Christian Research Institute's outreaches, but they enjoy their selection of resources from our Equipping Essentials Library. To discover how you can make a difference 24-7 in equipping believers at home and abroad to stand for life and truth, check out the benefits of membership at equip.org. Once again, that's equip.org. Has God spoken? Are the words of Scripture merely human in origin, or are they in fact the very words of God Himself? Three years in the making, and based on two decades of research and reflection, Hank Hanegraaff's monumental book, Has God Spoken?

14:23 answers what is surely the most important question facing our world. In Has God Spoken? Memorable Proofs of the Bible's Divine Inspiration, Hank counters the contentions of the Bible attackers and clearly shows that belief in the Holy Scriptures is not a guess or wishful thinking. It is the only logical conclusion after an honest examination of overwhelming evidence. Order Has God Spoken from the Christian Research Institute by calling 888-7000-CRI or go online to equip.org, equip.org. Once again, here is Hank Hanegraaff.

15:10 Thank you, Randy, and we return to our callers. Want to go to how.org? listening in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

15:16 Hi.

15:17 Hi, Hank. I have a question. If repenting is so important, why did Paul only mention once in all of his writing? Because there are teachings going on around my town that says if we repent after we are born again, we are actually disrespecting of what Jesus did on the cross.

15:41 Well, I think it's wrong to say that Paul only mentions it once. He mentions it in Romans chapter 2 and 2 Corinthians chapter 7. Certainly it's mentioned throughout the Bible by Jesus. It's mentioned by Peter. It's mentioned by John, particularly in the Revelation. So repentance is a dominant theme in Scripture. And what it actually is, is an old English word in terms of how we use it, the actual word repentance. for expressing a U-turn on the road of life, a change of heart, a change of mind, a change of the will, turning from doing it our way to doing it God's way. So even when the actual term is not used in the scriptures, the concept is clearly communicated as part of what the gospel is all about. It is a recognition that you are a sinner,

16:34 are willing to repent or turn from that sin and receive Jesus Christ and trust in him as opposed to trusting in yourself.

16:44 Yes, I guess the problem is that when Jesus mentioned that, if we think in our mind, we are actually committing the actual sin. So wouldn't that, if we worry so much about repenting, wouldn't that create us into more of a sin-conscious rather than a grace-conscious?

17:04 No, I mean, Jesus is pointing out the enormity of sin, which allows us to understand the enormity of grace. In fact, in the very passages that you referenced, Jesus is making clear that if a person thinks a murderous thought, he's already committed murder in his heart. So Jesus is actually talking to people who think they're self-righteous and think they might be able to do it on their own, and he's pointing out the full extent of sin so that people get a true valuation of things and recognize how necessary it is that they fall upon his grace. Okay.

17:41 So do you suggest we also repent of our daily thoughts?

17:47 Absolutely. I think every single day we ask God for forgiveness, and we turn from those sins that we commit and recognize that He's faithful and just, and He will, if we confess our sins, be faithful and just and forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. We should ask forgiveness for those sins if we do not we will break our communion with God. Not our union with God, but certainly our communion with God, because sin becomes a barrier again in our relationship. Okay.

18:19 What are the two verses that you mentioned, Romans and.

18:23 Well, yeah, there's a whole bunch of verses. I mean, the first thing I mentioned is that Jesus Christ, throughout the Bible, talks about the necessity for repentance. But then you find in the Scripture in Romans chapter 2 that God's kindness leads you to repentance. These are the words of Paul, or in 2 Corinthians 7, where godly sorrow brings repentance. 2 Peter, you know, his prayer that everyone come to repentance. So it's a fairly ubiquitous theme throughout the Scriptures.

19:00 Okay.

19:00 Thank you so much, Hank. I love your show.

19:02 Hey, thank you so much for your question. I love it when people press their questions because this is what we have to do test all things hold fast to that which is good because i say it doesn't mean it's true what we have to do is test all things in light of scripture and then hold fast to that which is good let's go back to the phone lines now talk to jim listening i'm kansas city missouri hi.

19:23 Jim hey thanks so much for your ministry thank you um I had a question for you. I live in Independence, Missouri, or close to Independence, which seems to be kind of a high concentration of the Mormon Church, and so there's a lot of questions that come up about Mormonism and that type of thing. So I have two questions for you.

19:40 One is, does Independence, Missouri, have some kind of historical significance in the Mormon Church? And also, what is the difference between Mormonism RLDS, and the Community of Christ, which is prevalent in this area?

19:55 Yeah, well, first of all, most Mormons believe that there are many gods and that men can become gods. But the reorganized church maintains that there's only one God holding what appears at least at face value to be a Trinitarian view. And whereas Mormons traditionally hold that God was once a mere man and that he had to work his way to godhood, the reorganized church teaches that God has always been God. So these are substantial differences. And then you can add to that the fact that the reorganized church repudiates secret temple rituals like baptism for the dead.

20:34 So again, very significant differences. But I also have to point out that while I commend the reorganized church's opposition to the majority of Mormonism's false teachings, there are a number of reasons that would still prompt us to classify them as heretical. Contrary to Scripture, the reorganized church still believes that Christianity was completely overrun by apostasy. And they also maintain that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God who was sent by God to restore the church and that he had to reinstitute the apostolic and prophetic offices along with the Old Testament priesthoods and that he also had to convey additional revelation from God, which, of course, is what the Book of Mormon is supposed to be. Now,

21:25 as far as their eschatology is concerned, in general, what Mormons believe... is that when Jesus returns, Mormons are going to be miraculously gathered together in Jackson County, Missouri, and they're incidentally going to be gathered along with the descendants of the ten lost tribes of Israel. So, yeah, it has real significance in Mormon eschatology, and in fact is so prevalent in their psyche that Mitt Romney felt compelled to underscore the Mormon notion that during the millennial period, reign of Jesus Christ. He would reign from two places, Missouri and Jerusalem. And Romney actually said that throughout the Bible, Christ appears in Jerusalem. He splits the Mount of Olives to stop the war that's coming in to kill all

22:12 the Jews. And then he says that when the coming of Christ in glory occurs, we also believe that in the millennium, he will reign from two places, that the law will come forth from one place in Missouri and and the other will be in Jerusalem. So it has huge eschatological significance in Mormon lore.

22:37 And is Community of Christ the same thing as RLDS?

22:40 Yeah, the RLDS is the Community of Christ. Same organization, different name.

22:45 Okay, okay.

22:46 Well, great.

22:47 That's some great information. I appreciate it.

22:50 You got it. Thank you so much for your call. I want to go back to the phone lines. Eli listening in Fresno, California.

22:56 Hi, Eli.

22:57 Hi, how are you doing?

22:58 Good, how are you?

22:59 Pretty good, pretty good. Hey, my question for you was about the book of Enoch.

23:05 I was just doing some research on my own, and it popped up.

23:07 Someone said it's supposed to be in the Old Testament, but it's not. And also, why isn't it?

23:15 Well, first of all, if you look at Jude, you'll see that the Enoch described is the seventh from Adam. And this Enoch evidently prophesied about the very men that Jude alludes to. But the book itself, the book of Enoch, was a pseudepigraphal book. So it was a false writing. And that, however, does not mean that it didn't convey truth.

23:44 It just did not meet the standards of canonicity. And remember, the standard of canonicity is not something that is determined by men, but rather a principle determined by God by which men can discover that which is canonical, or that which meets the measure, and that which is not.

24:09 Okay, thank you.

24:11 You gotta want to go back to the phone lines now and talk to David listening on the web in Indiana.

24:17 Hi, David.

24:19 Hi, Hank.

24:20 Thanks so much for your ministry. I really have been blessed by you over the years. I wanted to see if you could help shed some truth on this unconditional election. I seem to be really perplexed by what some of my friends and some of the other teachers I've heard talking about that. And I was hoping you could help me with that.

24:47 Yeah, well, a couple of things I would say. First of all, I think it's instructive to note that we have a particular article in the Christian Research Journal, which is very helpful in this regard because it gives a Calvinist perspective and a non-Calvinist perspective. And what we did or endeavored to do in the journal is get two good minds on both sides of the issue. So it's not a straw man debate or an unequally weighted debate, but we had a really good articulate authority there. that communicates the Calvinist position, and then a good, strongly reasoned mind, biblically literate mind, that is giving the non-Calvinist position. So you take both of the theological structures and you test them in light of Scripture and hold fast to that

25:33 which is good. And what I like about that article in particular is it allows you to take the time to take the good argument, test the argument, because the scriptural basis is sometimes the philosophical basis or the theological deduction is given, and you have an opportunity to weigh this because you've got a good response, someone that's coming back and not just letting something slide, but actually giving a good response. So I think because I'm limited on time right now, I'll just leave it at that. But if you hang on, I'll get that article and put it into your hands. We'll be right back here tomorrow, ready to answer your questions. So long for now.

26:11 We appreciate you tuning in to the Bible Answer Man broadcast. If you've been blessed by the broadcast and want more information to help you grow in the grace and knowledge of God, go to our website at equip.org. That's equip.org. To contact a resource consultant, call 888-7000-CRI. Again, that's 888-7000-2740.

26:37 Or you can write to us at Post Office Box 8500, Charlotte, North Carolina, zip code 28271. The Bible Answer Man broadcast is supported by listeners like you. We're on the air because life and truth matter. Endless predictions about end time events and published timetables counting down the end have proven to be wrong 100% of the time. When doomsday predictions fail, there is 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.

27:32 Hank Hanegraaff's book, Prophetic Stars in the Constellation of Biblical 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, simply call 888-7000-CRI and make a gift to support CRI's life-changing outreaches. Or visit equip.org.