Q&A: Coveting, Antichrist, and Moses Writing the Book of Genesis

0:07 You're just in time for 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 its worth, and counter the teachings of cults and world religions that deviate from the plumb line of God's Word because life and truth matter. 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.

0:50 Now here's the president of the Christian Research Institute, Hank Hanegraaff.

0:55 Thank you very much, Randy. First up today, Linda, listening in Dallas, Texas, listening on the web.

0:59 Hi, Linda.

0:59 Hello.

1:02 How are you?

1:03 I'm good. I'm I had a question about coveting. Like, for example, is it coveting, let's say, you know, as a female? Females like pretty things, you know? And then there's another girl and she sees, you know, a girl with some cute shoes and says to herself, I wouldn't mind buying those. And then, you know, she goes out and buys them or tries out the same hairstyle another girl has or something like that.

1:32 Well, a couple of things I would say. First of all, What is covetousness? It is an intense desire to possess something, or someone for that matter, that belongs to another person. So it really underscores the problem of self-centeredness. Beyond that, I would say that the Bible is very clear that we should take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of things that one possesses, and therefore It is. In fact, oftentimes talked about as one of the seven deadly sins. So we shouldn't covet that which belongs to someone else, nor should we have an overt desire to possess an abundance of things.

2:19 We should live with eternity in mind. I want to go back to the phone lines, talk to John. John is listening in Denver, Colorado. Hi, John.

2:28 Hello, Hank. How are we?

2:29 I'm doing good. Thank you.

2:31 Sir, first I would like to thank you so much for your book, The Apocalypse Code. I was raised on dispensational premillennialism. I was not even really aware of any other views until I read your book, and it's so fantastic, and it makes it so clear. It makes Revelation so clear. As a matter of fact, after I read it, I did a year-long Bible study on the book of Revelation in my church.

2:54 Wow. Music to my ears.

2:57 Thank you so much, sir. One thing that I've always kind of struggled with is the thousand years, the use of the definite article and how the thousand years, if not taken literally, you know, that might compromise other statements in the Bible, like Genesis, the six literal days. And what I'm wondering is, has anybody from an amillennial or postmillennial view ever tried to reconcile the illiteral thousand years with their viewpoint?

3:27 Well, the amillennialists and the postmillennialists, of course, do not hold 1,000 years to be a specific 1,000 years. They believe it to be an indefinite number between the first and second comings of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I think the figurative use of the whole number 1,000 is virtually ubiquitous in the Old Testament. For example, God increased the number of the Israelites 1,000 times. God keeps his covenant to a thousand generations. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

4:00 Psalm 50, verse 10, right?

4:02 Yeah, exactly. And then the least is Zion will become a thousand and the smallest a mighty nation. Or I think of what's said in the Psalms, a day in God's sight is better than a thousand elsewhere. God shows loving kindness to a thousand generations. And there are many other examples that could be given where a thousand is used in a figurative sense. And therefore, if you come to 1,000 in the book of Revelation, in a highly apocalyptic passage of Revelation, because Revelation is not only an apocalypse, I mean, it's an epistle as well, and it's a prophecy as well. But when you come to a highly apocalyptic part of Revelation, where Revelation 20 starts out, an angel coming down of heaven having a key to the

4:52 abyss and holding in his hand a great chain, you immediately know that is figurative language, because non-corporeal beings don't hold chains. I think it is a stretch, then, to try to press the language of 1,000, Revelation 20, into a wooden literal labyrinth, out of which nothing but nonsense can emerge.

5:12 How would you defend against the objection to the use of the term year, edde, which appears 29 times in the New Testament, especially verses like Acts 13 verse 20, and he gave them, the judges, 450 years until Samuel the prophet, when they would say, well, look, the use of the word years is still there, and because of the term the thousand years, we know that it's talking about the definite article.

5:37 I've run up against that.

5:37 Yeah, but again, I'm pointing to a highly symbolic passage within the Bible, and I think when you are adept at the art and science of biblical interpretation, one of the first things you take into account is the genre itself. And you always want to interpret Scripture in light of Scripture, and thousand, when it's used as a whole number, is almost always used. Maybe you can find an exception somewhere.

6:06 I haven't, but maybe there is an exception somewhere. It's almost always used, just to be safe, in a symbolic fashion. And therefore, I don't think we want to, in this context, read a wooden literal meaning into the text. I've written about this. You have the book. I've written about this there as well as in other places, including my book, Has God Spoken? So for more information, you can look into that. I want to go back to the phone lines, talk next to Jamie in Springfield, Missouri. Hi, Jamie.

6:34 Hi, how are you doing, Hank?

6:36 Good. How are you?

6:38 Good.

6:38 This is a little off subject, I guess, but I was just wondering if you believed in a literal future Antichrist, and I had to follow up a question to that, if you don't mind.

6:48 Well, I think that Antichrist is both an individual and an institution, which is to say anyone who denies that Jesus Christ, whether an individual or an institution, that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is Antichrist, according to the epistles of John where the word is used. So, yeah, I mean, I think that there are Antichrists around right now, both institutionally and individually.

7:12 Right, but do you believe in one specific one?

7:16 No, I think that there are many Antichrists, as John points out, and that is true in every epoch of time.

7:22 Okay.

7:23 Okay, I think you've answered my question.

7:26 I appreciate your call very much, and do remember the idea that Antichrist is used in Revelation is simply wrong. The word Antichrist is never used in the book Revelation, although I hear a lot of people say that it is. Although we certainly could say that the beast of Revelation is the quintessential Antichrist. But Antichrist is never used as a word in the book of Revelation. John defines what he means by Antichrist in his epistles. So if you want to get a good definition of what the biblical idea of Antichrist is, read the epistles of the apostle John.

8:04 Want to go back to the phone lines? We'll talk next to David listening in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hi, David.

8:11 Hi.

8:13 I have a question. I was a Mormon for a long, long time, and recently I left the Mormon church and I am attending a Christian church. However, I was Mason. I was a Master Mason. I am, actually. I am a Master Mason. And I don't know really. How that affects my, you know, being a Christian now. So I just, you know, I have friends, and I have a very good relationship with my Lush and everything, you know, so I just don't know, you know, where to go from here, you know.

8:54 Well, based on someone that has in-depth knowledge yourself, so this is not secondary information for you, it's primary information for you, you immediately would recognize that the teachings of Freemasonry and the teachings of Christianity are incompatible. Masonry cannot be reconciled with Orthodox Christianity. And therefore, I think it's important for you to simply repudiate the teachings of Freemasonry as you have with Mormonism, and embrace the teachings of Orthodox Christianity and use your experience in the lodge as an opportunity to communicate to people that God has given you a unique position to communicate to. You have the firsthand primary experience that I don't have, which puts you

9:49 in a very unique position to reach people in a way that I could not. And so I would use that opportunity as a Christian to reach out to people within the Masonic Lodge. There's an article in the Christian Research Journal that's titled Masonic Lodge and the Christian Conscience. And This is a very interesting article in that there are a lot of Southern Baptists who were part of Freemasonry, and as a result of that, were dealing with the exact same issue that you're dealing with. And therefore, the article in the Christian Research Journal, I think, would be helpful to you because it takes the issue on directly.

10:33 And again, I would emphasize the fact that God has placed you in a unique position to be able to reach people within the Masonic Lodge with the truth of the Christian message. We'll be right back in just a few moments with more answers to your questions, so please don't touch that dial.

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13:21 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 the complete Bible answer book, Collector's Edition, revised and expanded, call 888-7000-CRI. and make a gift to support the Christian Research Institute's life-changing outreaches, 888-7000-CRI, or visit us at equip.org. Breaking the code of the book of Revelation has become an international obsession. The result has been rampant misreading of Scripture, bad theology, and even bad politics and foreign policy. In The Apocalypse Code, find out what the Bible really says about the end times and why

14:19 it matters today. Hank Hanegraaff argues that the key to understanding the last book of the Bible is the other 65 books of the Bible, not current events or recent history. The Apocalypse Code offers sane answers to some very controversial questions, such as what does it mean to take the book of Revelation literally? Who are the Antichrist and the great whore of Babylon? And what is the real meaning of 666?

14:43 Order The Apocalypse Code by Hank Hanegraaff today. Available in softcover, MP3 CD, or MP3 download from equip.org. Or call 888-7000-CRI. And now, here's Hank Hanegraaff.

15:09 Thank you very much, Randy. And we'll go from Randy to Sandy, listening in Virginia. Hi, Sandy.

15:14 Hi.

15:16 I have a question that I don't think I'm unusual having. My daughter was killed two years ago. And my truck driver took his eyes off the road for a little bit. And I know she believes in the Lord, and I know she believes in Jesus Christ. But I don't know if she prayed the full prayer. And my question is, if that didn't happen, is she far from heaven?

15:42 Well, remember, Sandy, that God is not looking for technicalities to keep people out of his presence. He did all that could possibly be done so that we might be reconciled to him for time and for eternity. The only people who will be kept out of his presence are those who do not want to relationship with him. And I think it's important to recognize that it's not the absence of knowledge that damns, it's the despising of knowledge that damns. So I don't think it is incumbent upon someone to have an absolute pristine formula, and you have to be able to parrot that formula in a certain way in order to be saved. I think that you have to respond to the light that you've been given.

16:30 And the light that we are given is communicated by Paul in Romans, the light of creation, an outer light, the light of conscience, an inner light. And if we respond to the light of creation from without and conscience from within, then we will also receive the light of Jesus Christ as Paul delineates in Romans chapter 3. So I think that you, based on what you communicated in the prologue to your question, can be certain that your daughter...

16:59 is absent from the body, present with the Lord, and awaiting the greatest of all eventualities, that is, the time that Jesus appears a second time and puts all things to right. Then there'll be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the older things will have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. I want to go back to the phone lines, talk to Robin in Texas, listening on the web. Hi, Robin.

17:26 How are you doing, Hank? Thanks for taking my call.

17:28 Pleasure.

17:29 My question is, I guess I have two questions. The first one is, I know, like, Moses is the one that's supposed to have written Genesis, but he, like, he lived so far after it. I was wondering how they know, like, if the Bible mentions anywhere, if there's, like, some kind of history anywhere on, was it revelation, or was it passed down through to tradition, or just how did he know so much of that history to write Genesis?

17:58 Yeah, well, it was a cultivated oral tradition. I mean, post-Gutenberg, we're primarily people of the printed page. As the offspring of Johannes Gutenberg and more recently Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, we associate sound education with the capacity for reading and writing rather than memorizing and reciting. But that's not the way it was with the ancients. In a predominantly oral culture, people practiced the principles of memory. and learning was virtually synonymous with memorization. Therefore, although the ancients did have written records, the right emphasis was not on manuscript repositories, but rather mental recall. And so I think we can safely say that Moses spoke about a lot of things he knew

18:48 of firsthand. He was an eyewitness to the Exodus, for example, but he also was able to under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Bible was written by men as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit, he was able to communicate a cultivated oral tradition which had been passed down to him as well. It was quite possible that Moses also drew from, as I said, written sources.

19:14 And therefore, when you read Genesis, you find that Moses employs the language of this is the account of. And that's why I also underscore the fact that there were manuscript repositories as well as mental recall upon which Moses would have relied.

19:34 Okay, that's good. And I guess my second question is, I think I've heard you talk about this before, but I don't remember what the answer was. But do you believe that the ages of those people... the people who lived 900 plus years, is that literal, 900 plus years? I don't know if there's any other way to take it.

19:59 Yeah, I think that certainly prior to the flood you have the ancients living a long period of time But also, there are changes in the length that people live, and those changes are notated in the Bible in a pretty direct way, that because of our sin, because of our separation from God, because of the accumulated imperfections that grow up over time genetically, the Bible states that the life of man will be three score and ten years, or if by reason of strength, four score years, which is 70 or 80 years. But again, the Bible just gives that as an average. And there are a lot of explanations that have been given as to why that occurs, including some of the explanations I just gave in the prologue to the answer, but there are many other explanations

20:54 that are given for it as well.

20:55 All right.

20:56 Well, thank you very much, then.

20:58 You got it. Thank you so much for your call. Back to the phone lines. We'll talk next to George listening in Tampa, Florida on the World Wide Web. Hi, George.

21:09 Hi, sir.

21:09 How are you doing today?

21:11 Good.

21:11 How are you?

21:12 I'm doing good.

21:14 My question stems from the passage where Jesus is talking to the woman at the well, and he talks about worshiping in spirit and in truth. And as I was reading that passage, the question comes to mind, what is the definition of spirit, and what does it mean to worship in spirit?

21:36 Well, remember, we have not received the spirit of the world, but we have received the spirit who is from God, so that we might, as Paul puts it, understand what God has freely given to us. And this is the essence of what it means to be one who walks in in spirit, and in truth. And that can be taken a lot of different ways, because truth is that which corresponds to reality on the one hand, but the Word of God is communicated as truth, and Jesus Christ recognized himself not only as the way, but as the very personification of truth. So to walk in spirit and in truth is to walk in the power and knowledge of of the one who spoke and the universe leapt into existence.

22:28 Okay.

22:29 All right.

22:30 Thank you.

22:30 You got it. Want to go back to the phone lines? Let's talk to Stephanie listening in Nashville, Tennessee.

22:35 Hi, Stephanie.

22:37 Hi, Hank.

22:38 How are you?

22:39 I'm doing well, thanks. I had a question regarding the doctrine of election. I guess I'm kind of on the fence as far as If I'm interpreting it correctly, just I'm assuming it means that there are a select friar that God has already chosen. So I'm guessing like if anyone ever, you know, quote unquote says, I came to Christ, they were already elected to come to Christ. It wasn't anything that someone had said or done or ministered to us.

23:16 Well, that's not really how I hold to the doctrine of election. I hold to Christocentric election, which is to say that Christ is the elect one, and we are elect by being in Christ. So if you think about it this way, Abraham, according to the Bible, only had one seed, and that seed is Jesus Christ. So he is the elect one. He is the one chosen before the foundations of the world. But if you read Galatians chapter 3 in its context, you realize that if you are in Christ, then you are the seed of Abraham in an era according to the promise, whether you're Jew or whether you're Greek, whether you're male or whether you're female, whether you're slave or whether you're free, so it doesn't matter about your station in life or whether you're a

23:58 male or a female, your gender or your nationality, if you are in Christ, then you are true Israel. You are the seed of Abraham, and an heir according to the promises of God. So the elect are all those who embrace Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of their life. So I don't hold to the notion of compatibilistic freedom or circumstantial freedom or the attendant notion that you have to be regenerated and only the elect are regenerated before you can exercise faith. I believe that if, in fact, you will, you can respond to the wooing of the Holy Spirit and receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of your life.

24:48 Okay, thank you.

24:49 That answered my question.

24:51 You got it. Thank you so much for your call, Stephanie. We are unfortunately out of time for this edition of the Bible Answer Man broadcast, except to say that this is a ministry that needs your support. We ask people who can to stand with this ministry prayerfully and financially because they love the ring of truth. If you join the support team, I'll send you a personalized copy of the complete Bible answer book collector's edition. You can check it out on the web at equip.org, but we need many of you to join the support team, join a team of people making a difference, not just for time, but also for eternity. We thank you for your prayers.

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