Q&A: The Little Horn, Baptism, and the Seven Letters to the Seven Churches

From Charlotte, North Carolina. You're listening to the Bible Answer Man broadcast with Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute. The reason the Bible Answer Man is on the air is to defend the Christian faith, proclaim the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and to teach discipleship to his followers because life and truth matter. For more information or to order equipping resources, call 888-7000-CRI. which translates to 888-7274, or go online to equip.org. That's equip.org. The following program was prerecorded. And now, here's your host, Hank Hanegraaff.

Thank you very much, Randy, and a lot of you hanging on. We'll go right to the phone callers. First up is Leo Kadia.

My question is, Is it a fact that Constantine, as the little horn power, would become God's substitute by changing a specific time in God's law? By changing the fourth commandment and altering the law of worship from Saturday worship to Sunday worship, attempting to change times and the law.

Are you talking about the little horn in Daniel?

Yes.

Yeah. This has nothing whatsoever to do with Constantine. What happened is you have a large horn prophesied by Daniel, and that is identified as Alexander the Great. The little horn was Antiochus IV. He was the last of the Seleucid monarchs. He was king of the north. He was son of Antiochus the Great and the chief villain of the Greco-Syrian Empire. And Daniel describes Antiochus as a beast that would trample its foes underfoot, as a little horn that would grow in power and become the greatest of four kings, and as a master of intrigue who would ruthlessly oppress the saints for a time, times, and a division of time. Of course, in superhuman arrogance, Antiochus declared himself the incarnation of Zeus, father of the gods. Now,

what actually happened in 167, three years after the murder of Ananias, the ultimate sacrilege befalls Jerusalem. The armed forces of Antiochus rise up against the temple fortress, they abolish the daily sacrifice, and they set up an abomination that causes desolation. With impunity, what Antiochus did was plunder the temple treasury and then dedicate the sanctuary to the Olympian Zeus and sacrifice a pig on the altar. But then Hellenized Jews took on the mark of the Greco-Syrian beast.

They sacrificed the idols and they profaned the Sabbath. Not only that, but they erected a desolating sacrilege on the altar of burnt offering. So that's what In Tychus, the fourth epiphanies, the little horn did. And interestingly enough, we see this as something that is emblazoned on the minds of Jews. So what I just said, they can chronicle from memory because it's something they celebrate every time they talk about Hanukkah in that this is not where it ends.

Judas Maccabeus rises up and you have freedom for the Jews under Judas Maccabeus. And ultimately this is a typology pointing forward to Jesus Christ through whom we have ultimate freedom. In fact, what's really interesting about this is that as a result of Jesus Christ we have through his resurrection, our rest, which is why we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ every Sunday, because it is in Jesus Christ that we have our Sabbath rest. But remember, this has nothing whatsoever to do with Constantine. Again, I've written about this in various places, including under a section called Succession of Nations in my book, Has God Spoken?, as well as under a section called The Abomination of Desolation. Good question.

Let's go back to the phone lines. Talk next to Eugene in St. Louis, Missouri. Hi, Eugene.

How are you doing today?

Doing good, thank you.

My question is, I have some friends who are telling me that Acts 8, chapter 14, through the 17th verse, that there's a second baptism of the Holy Spirit The water baptism is for repentance, and would tell me you need a second baptism of the Holy Spirit in order to do ministry.

Well, I think that's a misguided way of looking at it. I think there's a second baptism for sure, but there's a third one as well. There's a one millionth one as well. There's a two millionth one as well, which is to say we're leaky vessels, and therefore we continually need to be infilled with the Spirit. There's a distinction in biblical vernacular between indwelling and infilling. When you become a believer, you're indwelt with the Holy Spirit. But as an indwelt believer, you're constantly praying to be infilled, which is to say it's a way of communicating that you want to be empowered for service, not by might nor by power, but by his spirit. So infilling is not just a second work, it is an ongoing work. Every

time I do the Bible Answer Man broadcast, I pray for a fresh infilling, which is to say, I recognize that there's a lot you can do through the power of the flesh, but that's not what we're after. We're after touching lives, transforming people, and that can only be done through the power of the Holy Spirit, and therefore we ask God to infill us not by might nor by power, but by His Spirit, so that we can touch the totality of another being.

Okay.

Thank you.

You got it, Eugene. Thank you so much for your call. Let's go back to the phone lines. Talk to Cody, listening in Moses Lake, Washington. Hi, Cody.

Hi, how you doing? Hey, you know, I've been listening to this one that's Pentecostal. You know, I don't know if we're allowed to say names, but his name is Urban Baxter.

Yeah.

You know, they believe that you've got to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. I was wondering your intake on this, because they say you've got to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ in Acts 2.38, but they say all these other baptisms are valid in the book of Acts when they were baptized only in the name of the Lord, or in the name of the Lord Jesus. They weren't actually baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Do you get what I'm saying?

Oh yeah, absolutely. This is a full-blown cult. And Irwin... Baxter Jr. is an example of not only false teachings with respect to baptism, but of sensationalism and sophistry and script torture when it comes to eschatology. But in terms of his oneness Pentecostalist belief, he holds that unless you are baptized using the correct formula, you're not truly saved.

In his view, the formula is, I baptize you in the name of Jesus, not I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But in truth, when Peter says we are to be baptized in the name of Jesus, or when Jesus says we are to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they're not prescribing different formulas. What they're saying is that we are to be baptized by the authority vested in the one true God who has revealed himself to us in the Bible. So to be baptized in the name of Jesus is to be baptized on the basis of our belief in his death, burial, and resurrection. So again, it's not a formula. It is identifying correctly the God who has manifested himself to us in the pages of Scripture.

But the real problem is this. The belief that you have to be baptized only in the name of Jesus is what leads people like Erwin Baxter... to hold that Jesus is himself the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So they don't hold to one God revealed in three persons who are eternally distinct, but three manifestations of one God revealed in Jesus. And therefore they would say the doctrine of the Trinity is pagan polytheistic philosophy. So this is a very disturbing movement within Pentecostalism, and Pentecostalism rightly, upon its emergence, declared it And that's precisely what it is.

It's a heretical movement.

Now, with his teachings on Revelation, I find those things to be, I have a lot of characteristics of what he has taught. You know, with the trumpets blown already, some of the things he said have already happened. Do you believe that any of the things he says in Revelation are probably correct?

No, I don't. I mean, this guy doesn't have a clue as to how to read the book of Revelation. And if you want to see the distortions between what he is teaching and truth, read my book, The Apocalypse Code.

Okay. Okay.

Thank you very much. Hey, you got it. Thank you so much for your call. Yeah, Irvin Baxter, Jr., a Oneness Pentecostal who pins the tail on the Antichrist, kind of a perverter in many different ways. And, of course, you know what the Oneness Pentecostals do. They hold to a litany of legalistic prescriptions, including the test of rebaptism by their formula with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

No tongues, no salvation. Now, you can imagine that has placed tremendous socio-psychological pressure but adherence to conjure up the gift of tongues. Because those who do not speak in tongues are thought to be lacking in faith or even to be entirely unrepentant. We'll be right back in just a few moments with more answers to your questions.

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And stand with CRI daily in the battle for life and truth. That's 888-7000-CRI. Or visit our website at equip.org. We'll return shortly with more from Hank Hanegraaff. 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?, 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. 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 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. 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 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? Order The Apocalypse Code by Hank Hanegraaff today. Available in softcover, MP3 CD, or MP3 download from equip.org. Or call 888-7000-CRI. Now back to

the Bible Answer Man broadcast and your host, Hank Hanegraaff.

Thank you very much, Randy. And we'll go right back to our phone callers. Talk next to Cruz listening in Texas. Hi, Cruz.

Hi, how are you, Hank?

I'm good, thank you.

I wanted to ask if you could comment on the seven letters to the seven churches and if you could tell me which one of those churches would be the Seventh-day Adventist. I am a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Well, none of them would have anything to do with Seventh-day Adventism. It has to do with seven churches in the epicenter of the Caesar cult in the first century. So these are not different epics in history, but these are churches in a particular setting. These are letters to the seven churches in the province of Asia. And they are going to face not only the full fury of a beast, but a woman who rides the beast. And therefore, they're told to be faithful and fruitful. They'll suffer for a short time, but their vindication will be an eternal vindication.

So again, this has nothing whatsoever to do with the Seventh-day Adventist church in the 21st century. Look, Revelation is not a book of riddles originating from a shallow post-Christian mind. It's a book of symbols that are deeply rooted in Old Testament history. And we mistake their meanings when we fail to hear the background music of the Old Testament.

The letters of Christ to his persecuted church utilize images that are deeply embedded in the language of the Bible. And therefore, when you read judgments of Christ against a prostituted bride written on a seven-sealed scroll and announced with seven trumpets and depicted by seven plagues, you find their referent in the history of the Old Testament scriptures. For example, the pattern of sevenfold judgment against unfaithfulness on the part of of Israel is spelled out in dreadful detail in Leviticus, where four times God tells his covenant people, I'm going to punish you for your sins seven times over. So in like fashion, the imagery of seven-fold judgment against apostate Israel in the book of Revelation is unveiled on four occasions.

And the pronouncement of judgment for unfaithfulness in the seven churches is followed, of course, by the judgments of the seven seals and the seven trumpets and the seven bowls. Again, if you do not put Revelation within its correct historical setting, you're going to come up with all kinds of nonsensical notions, including the notion that this has got something to do with Seventh-day Adventism in the 21st century. Remember that all of the Bible is for us, but the Bible wasn't written to us. Revelation, as I said, was written to seven churches in the epicenter, of a first century Caesar cult, just like Romans was written to Roman Christians. Now again, while it's not written to us, it certainly is written

for us, and every part of it is efficacious for the believer today. Back to the phone lines, we'll talk to Eddie. El Paso, Texas. Hi, Eddie.

Hello, Hank.

Good to talk to you there. I'll get right to the question. I'm a fairly new Christian, and I have been listening to your show for a little bit now, and There's some things, I'll be honest with you, I agree with you a lot, and there's some things where I'm confused because I hear other people on TV or pastors, whatever.

So there's a lot of stuff as a new believer that gets kind of confusing. But my question is, if a person is a believer and is a homosexual, is he or she forgiven if they're under the new covenant? Obviously, emphasis on them being Christians.

Well, and that is the evidence. The point is that when we come to faith in Christ, we come because we recognize that we are sinners, deeply trapped in the web of unrighteousness, and recognize that there is no way out save the blood of Jesus Christ. And so, as believers, we are covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ, but we are yet sinners. But as sinners, we're being sanctified or transformed, and that means that we are turning away from sin, and rather than doing it our way, we're doing it his way. So if homosexuality is against the natural order of things, we recognize that it is hurtful to us and to other people to engage in unnatural practices.

And God doesn't fool us where he gives us a body that points in one direction and the metaphysical aspect of our humanity that points in another. So we want to conform ourselves to the pattern by which he wants us to live our lives, not because he's a cosmic killjoy, but because he wants our joy to be complete. So, again, what happens is whatever state we're in, whether we're homosexuals or heterosexuals or, you know, I mean, I don't know what.

That's exactly what I was going to say to you, because I'm listening to you right now, and I'm a little bit confused. There's no certain yes or no, or there is a yes, they are forgiven. Because, like I said, I'm new to this, and I've done some bad stuff in the past, and I'm no saint. I mean, I look at somebody still once in a while, and that's considered a sin, because it's a lustful thought.

And.

That's what gets me scratching my head, thinking, well, hmm, well, under the blood of Christ, I'm forgiven for His finished work at the cross. I'm thinking, well, shouldn't the homosexual he or she, shouldn't they be also forgiven? It seems like it's a taboo question that kind of people kind of, from what I've seen on TV, and I watch a lot of it as far as the Christian network is concerned, and everybody seems to kind of just, well, you can't do it because it says in the liturgy you're not supposed to do it, and But I just want to see what the Bible says. Is it, yes, they are forgiven, although they're doing it?

Well, I'm not trying to confuse you. I'm trying to be very, very clear in answering the question.

Yes, sir.

So listen to what I'm saying. I'm not obfuscating here. I'm being very clear, which is to say, first of all, Jesus Christ takes us where we are. In other words, Christianity is a hospital for sick people, physically and metaphysically. So we are in our sin, and we reach out to a Savior who redeems us. But he also gives us the rulebook for living our lives. And if we truly want to do it his way, we don't try in some way to rewrite the rules, but we follow his rules because we know he knows what's best for us.

A homosexual lifestyle is a lifestyle that according to the authors of Scripture is not best for us. And the authors of Scripture did not write on their own accord. They wrote as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. So their words ultimately become the infallible repository of redemptive revelation.

So let me reinterpret that just so there's no misunderstanding. Jesus meets us in our sin, but when we receive Jesus Christ, we say, yes, I'm a sinner. whether I'm homosexual or heterosexual. Yes, I'm a sinner. I want to turn from my sin, whatever it is. And I want to make you Lord and Savior of my life. In other words, I want to do it your way, not my own way. So you realize you're a sinner, you repent of your sin, and you receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life. That means your life goes through a transformation. It's not at all an immediate transformation, but it is a transformation, and it is a turning from doing it your own way and a willingness to do it his way. And he has given us his

way clearly in his word.

Yes, sir. I respect what you're saying. I'm just trying to run every day. My friend, Brother Hank, I really am. And I love your show, by the way. And I love your intelligence. And like I said, you're just like me in a lot of ways. So I appreciate your answering my call and answering my question there.

Well, I appreciate you calling and then following up on your question, because it's important to me that you understand what I'm saying. Sometimes it takes a couple of times to get it across, either because I'm not communicating clearly or you're not listening clearly, or maybe a combination of the two. So sometimes having this ongoing dialogue is very helpful, not only for you, but for other people listening in as well. So thank you very much for pressing the question.

Not a problem, Hank, and I'll be listening to you the rest of the show and tomorrow.

Thank you, my friend. Back to the phone lines. We'll talk next to Jim. He's listening in Iowa. Hi, Jim.

Hank, thank you for taking my call.

My pleasure.

Say, Hank, I got a couple.

Questions for you. I've got a friend of mine that's a member of the Latter-day Saints, and he believes, and he presented me with a question. He said Jesus and Satan are brothers. Actually, God the Father is, well, he gave us Jesus and Satan, and Satan was thrown out because he wanted to take over the kingdom.

And so I guess basically.

What I'm trying to find out from you, Hank, how would you respond to something like this? Because he was an angel, not a— he wasn't a son of God, right?

Yeah, I mean, this whole notion that is communicated by Mormons that Jesus and Satan are spirit brothers is just dead wrong. Jesus is the one who spoke and the universe leapt into existence. He is the creator of all things. Colossians 1 makes that very clear. Satan is a creature created— by Jesus Christ, not a spirit brother of Jesus Christ.

Now he's a non-physical being, speaking of Satan, but he's still created by Jesus Christ. So Jesus Christ is the creator. Satan was created by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ created all things and in him all things hold together. So Jesus Christ created the universe. Jesus Christ created angels. Jesus Christ created human beings. All that is was created by Jesus Christ.

And again, if you read Colossians 1, starting at verse 15 in particular, you will see how Paul summarizes the truth that Jesus Christ is the creator of all things.

So, Jesus is the creator. Satan, he is the creation thereof.

One of the creations, yes. Jesus Christ is God, and God created all things, the universe and everything in it.

Thank you.

You got it. Thank you so much for your call. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time with more of the show.

We appreciate you tuning in to the Bible Answer Man broadcast. Before we sign off today, here's our contact information. By phone, dial 888-7000-CRI, which translates to 888-7000-274. On the internet, go to equip.org. That's equip.org. You can also write CRI at Post Office Box 8500, Charlotte, North Carolina. The zip code is 28271. Our prayer is that today's broadcast has equipped you to better defend your faith and encouraged you to pursue sound doctrine and godly living. Thank you for listening.

The Bible Answer Man broadcast is supported by listeners like you. We're on the air because life and truth matter. 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?, answers what is surely the most important question facing our world.

Q&A: The Little Horn, Baptism, and the Seven Letters to the Seven Churches

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