Q&A: This Generation, Megachurches, and Dinosaurs in the Bible

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. First up today, Rick, he's listening in Illinois. Hi, Rick.

Yeah.

How are you?

All right. I listen to your program there, and there's times when I don't agree with what you say. and one of them is, you were talking to somebody about, you know, Matthew 24. And the disciples specifically ask him, you know, about the signs of the coming of the end of the world, which would be the, you know, the future, the end times. And you had said it was, you know, had to do with the time then, and the time then wasn't the end of the world.

Well, let me say just a couple of things about that, Rick. First of all, I commend you for not agreeing with what I say, because ultimately my goal is not to have you agree with me, but to have you agree with the Bible. And that entails learning to rightly divide the word of truth, or to mind the Bible for all its wealth, or variously to read the Bible for all its worth. Now, the Bible does not tell us what you just said it tells us. Remember what happened in context is Jesus had, in essence, declared Ichabod upon the temple. And he was leaving the temple and then was walking away in Matthew 24, the passage that you refer to. And his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. And then Jesus says,

I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another. Every one will be thrown down. So the focus here is the temple. And therefore, as Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples come to him privately and they are absolutely astonished by what he has just said, that the temple is going to be destroyed. And so they ask, when will this happen?

In other words, when will the temple be destroyed? And what will be the sign of your coming? In context, his coming in judgment on the temple in Jerusalem. And what will be the end of the age, the end of the age of sacrifice, again associated with the temple? They would not have had in view the end of the world, but they were thinking about the very words that Jesus had now spoken to them. And Jesus gives them very clear answers to their questions. When they ask him when, he says, learn this lesson from the fig tree.

As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know summer is nearing. Even so, when you see all these things, all the things that he has previously described, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Now Christ's statement is not subject to interpretation. It is crystal clear. He says, this generation. And skeptics who know how to read the Bible read the words of Jesus Christ, and on the basis of this they say he is a false apocalyptic prophet. Why? Because they don't read the Bible in its intended context either. Jesus in context makes clear that he's talking about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. But they say, well, When was the sun darkened? When will the moon not give its light? When did the stars fall from the sky?

When were the heavenly bodies shaken? And they demonstrate their ignorance about the Bible. Jesus uses the very words of the Old Testament prophets, words that were employed by the Old Testament prophets, about judgment on nations, particularly by Isaiah, in this case, where he's talking about how Babylon would be destroyed by the Medes and the Persians. And Jesus now takes that very language, the language of sun, moon, and stars, the judgment language in Matthew 24, and he applies it to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.

So when Jesus Christ says, this generation... I don't think it is warranted for us to say, well, Jesus, you're linguistically challenged. If only you would have known the word that.

No.

When Jesus says this generation, he means this generation. Just as he means this generation in every other use that you find in the Gospels. This generation does not mean that generation as in a 21st century generation. He means this. this generation. And I think it is beyond all decency and propriety to take this and make it that. Jesus is the heir to the linguistic riches of the Old Testament prophets. He's a far greater prophet than them all.

He employs their language and he applies it to a near future calamity. Context, context, context. Now the fact that Jesus Christ came in judgment as he said he would The fact that his prophecy was rightly fulfilled as he said it would be is proof positive that we can be absolutely certain that he will also appear as he promised he would a second time. So just as there was a first advent, just as Jesus Christ came in the sense of judgment on Jerusalem, so we know he will come again to put all things to right. I've laid this all out in my book, The Apocalypse Code.

You can read it there. But I, again, commend our brother for testing what I say and then holding fast to that which is good. I want to go back to the phone lines, talk to Ross. He's in Northridge, California, listening on the web. Hi, Ross.

Hey, Hank.

Thanks for having me on.

You're welcome.

Yeah, my question is, I just recently moved to this area, and I started attending a quite large church. I believe the congregation is around 7,000. And the church I was going to before this one was quite a bit smaller. I believe it was running around 500 people. But at my old church, if I wanted to speak with the pastor, he was very approachable, and I could talk to him one-on-one after services, and he could answer questions that I had.

And I noticed at this church, which is quite large, that the pastor isn't even approachable. Right after he finishes a sermon, he walks off the stage and leaves, and then in the evening, the crowds around him are so large that I can't even get near to him. So my question is, what does the Bible have to say about megachurches? And I guess it also ties into, what is the proper role of the pastor?

Well, it's a very good question. Is the megachurch... an authentic expression of New Testament Christianity. In fact, should there be a pastor-laity dichotomy as we find in churches today? And there are quite a number of prominent voices today that are saying the New Testament model is that every believer must be involved not only in praise and prayer corporately, but also in proclamation. which is to say that every believer ought to be involved in preparing like a pastor during the week so that they can prophesy on the Lord's Day. And when I say prophesy, I'm not speaking about prophesying in the foretelling sense, but prophesying in the forth-telling sense. In other words, to strengthen, encourage, equip, and

exhort other believers on the basis of the infallible Word of God. And therefore, as believers are involved in that process in terms of worship, they are also more readily engaged in oneness, such that the world looks on and says, see how they love one another, and even more because they know how to communicate what they believe and why they're more effective in witness. And the model actually can be seen in living color, as it were, in China.

In China, there are pastors in the registered church, but by and large, by definition, there isn't a pastor in the persecuted church. The reason is, is they're small because you can't have a whole lot of people gathering together. in unauthorized places reading unauthorized materials. So by definition, the congregation is small and these are believers that gather together.

Because they don't have a pastor, every believer needs to prepare as though they were a pastor so that they can prophesy faith. Again, not in the sense of foretelling, but forth telling the word of God. So again, I'm saying this to point out that there are different ecclesiologies. And one of the ecclesiologies that we've seen work very effectively is the persecuted church, which is growing rapidly for the reasons I delineated. Not only because people are in worship authentically, but also in oneness authentically. and therefore equipped to witness authentically. It's an issue that we can debate vigorously, but ultimately does not divide people as believer against unbeliever.

We stand shoulder to shoulder together with believers on the essentials of the historic Christian faith, the very essentials for which the martyrs shed their blood. We'll be right back in just a bit.

To find out more about the materials mentioned on the show, call a CRI resource consultant toll-free at 888-7000-CRI. That's 888-7000-CRI. Our website is also an excellent reference destination to help you. Just go to equip.org and find articles by Hank, books, CDs, and DVDs, Again, that's equip.org. Or write CRI PO Box 8500, Charlotte, North Carolina, ZIP 28271. The Bible Answer Man will continue in just a moment. The Complete Bible Answer Book Collector's Edition is the comprehensive collection of the most often asked questions Hank Hanegraaff has received throughout his four decades as host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast. With more than half a million copies already in print, this newly revised

and expanded Collector's Edition Help 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 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.

Anyone who's been paying attention knows there's a war going on, not just on traditional morality, civility, and decency, but even more fundamentally on historic notions of truth. And the enemy isn't just the onslaught of fake news facilitated by a post-truth culture and turbocharged by growing legions of ideological spin doctors. No, the real enemies of truth range from post-modernist convictions that there is no objective truth to militant scientism that claims that only science can determine truth and religion is little more than primitive superstitions. But CRI support team members are not waving a white flag of surrender. They're holding the fort by undergirding every one of Christian Research Institute's mind-shaping

and life-changing outreaches 24-7. To learn how you can make a difference and enjoy all the benefits of support team membership, simply visit 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 go right back to our phone callers. Next up is Drew. He's listening in Hong Kong.

Hi, Drew.

Hi, Hank.

Can you hear me? Absolutely, yes.

Thank you for taking my call.

My pleasure.

Well, I have a question that's been perplexing me about the gift of tongues.

Yes.

And I just want to ask you a question. Do you know people personally who drew a gift of tongues? And what is the purpose that....

Okay, I think I may have lost Drew. But to answer Drew's question, it's pretty interesting. If you look at tongues in context, you can go to Genesis chapter 11, where you see the whole world had one language in a common tongue. But the Lord saw what they were doing. They were trying to work towards human potential rather than working towards extending God's principles in his kingdom. And so God went down and confused their tongues so that they would not understand one another. What happens at Pentecost is sort of an undoing of what happened at Babel. tongues was a barrier at Babel. At Pentecost, you have a breaking down of the barrier between people groups, and therefore the gospel can go out to the far reaches, as

the Bible makes it clear, not only Jerusalem, but Judea, Samaria, indeed to the ends of the world. So tongues, I think, had a purpose in a particular context, and I would not say that tongues are normative today. I can't absolutely preclude the possibility that God can give someone the gift of tongues today, but I can say that tongues are not normative. And if tongues are given as a gift and exercised as that gift within the context of the body of Christ, in other words, within public worship, then tongues need to be interpreted. If the tongues are interpreted, then tongues serve God. the purpose of prophecy. As we see again in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, they edify, encourage, strengthen, exhort,

and equip the believers. So tongues, therefore, have a very significant purpose. So again, I would say the Scripture makes clear the normative sign of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not speaking in tongues today, but the confession of Jesus Christ as Lord, repentance from sin, obedience to God, And those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace, as Paul says in Romans chapter 8. And therefore, the fruit of the Spirit is not merely speaking in tongues, but love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and of course, as Paul puts it, self-control. So, righteousness,

not tongues, is the core of Christianity, compressed in a single word. Appreciate your call, Drew, from Hong Kong. Hope you could give us another call another day. Back to the phone lines. We'll talk to Jim in Warner, Oklahoma. Hi, Jim.

Hello, Hank. I'm a longtime listener, and you've blessed me in many ways with your program. I have a question. The last couple of Sundays in my Sunday class, we were discussing Moses after he left his father-in-law. And there's a portion in there where it says that God tried to kill him when he stopped on the way after his wife circumcised her son. And I couldn't get what the meaning or anything was of this. I've searched every commentary that I could, and I have Strong's and everything.

But could you explain that to me?

Yeah.

What's going on there, again, you've got to read the context of the passage, but here we see Moses, who was going to be the great lawgiver to God's people, and instead he is in disobedience to the law of circumcision, the law given to Abraham. And it seems that Moses, in context, is more willing to plead the wishes of his Midianite wife than he was willing to please the Lord who had given him the command to be a lawgiver to his people. And thus, Moses had not circumcised his son. And it sees Moses obvious from verse 25 that Zipporah was repulsed by the right of circumcision. In other words, if you look at the term itself, bridegroom of blood, you have a term of derision and disgust.

So she only complied with circumcision, not because she believed in circumcision, but rather to save her husband's life. So perhaps Moses had been incapacitated in some way by God and could not perform the circumcision, but certainly what we do know from context is that he was not in compliance with the law of circumcision. And again, all these laws are laws that point forward to something, ultimately to Jesus Christ, in whom all the types and shadows find their substance and their fulfillment. Back to the phone lines.

We'll talk next to Steve in Illinois. Hi, Steve.

How you doing, sir?

I'm doing well.

How are you?

All right, thank you. I got a question. I'm a newly saved Christian, and I've been studying the Bible for about five years and so forth, and, you know, listening to the preacher and all that. I can't seem to get a clear... answer on maybe dinosaurs, where they came from. They weren't, you know, in the garden in Eden or so forth. And I've heard of the gap theory, you know, maybe something that was before Void. Can you help explain?

You know, because the kids and I, they're in museums and the bones of dinosaurs. Can you help me with that, sir?

Yeah, well, there are various views on this. There's the young earth perspective on dinosaurs and they believe that dinosaurs walked alongside of humankind and therefore they will point to passages like Job 40 and 41, Behemoth and Leviathan, and say here are examples of dinosaurs in the Bible. There are others who say no, dinosaurs died off long before the creation of humankind and therefore The days themselves are not days, but they are day ages, and therefore the dinosaurs were created in the sixth day age, but long before the actual creation of humankind. That is an ongoing debate amongst Christians, those who hold to a young earth and those who hold to an old earth. I think what's important in the debate, whatever position you take, is

to recognize that Adam's sin accounts for all moral evil. And therefore, the evil that precedes the sin of Adam is accounted for by Adam's sin, just as that which follows. And, of course, the corollary is Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ atones for all sin. Thus, it atones for Abraham's sin, just like it atones for your sin, because Christ is a lamb of God. slain before the foundations of the world, and therefore the passage in Genesis has to be read not chronologically, but rather chirologically, because it is communicating God's purposes vis-a-vis humanity. So again, this is a debate with respect to the age issue. I weigh in on this debate in the Creation Answer book, but I think to answer the question, did dinosaurs precede man

or live at the same time as man, humanity, we have to have an apt way of reading the book of nature. The book of nature is not an infallible repository of redemptive revelation, but it is general revelation, and God has revealed himself in general revelation as well. And one thing I would warn against is the kinds of things circulating on the internet today. For example, that human footprints have been discovered alongside dinosaur tracks. And it's argued that these footprints in stone prove a 6,000 year old world in which dinosaurs existed contemporaneously with human beings. The fact of the matter is we don't have to make up stories to support our position. Our reasoning should be grounded in truth. Creationists have questioned these footprints that you

find circulating in Young Earth Creationist material, and they should be commended for following the facts and the tracks wherever they lead. And I'm particularly proud of the Institute for Creation Research and their acts and facts, acknowledging that scientists must always be willing to reevaluate prior interpretations once new data becomes available. Creationists have accused evolutionists of being closed-minded on key issues. We can't afford that. to become like them in this respect. Jesus Christ claimed to be the truth.

We're followers of Jesus Christ, therefore we must be lovers of truth. My point here is simply to say we don't want to follow bad information, you know, internet lies, travel halfway around the world before truth has had the chance to put its boots on. So whatever way you come down on this, you want to make sure you do so on the basis of biblical truth and scientific evidence, which is to say we must not as Christians commit scriptural heresy nor must we ever commit scientific heresy. All truth is God's truth. We're almost out of time for this edition of the Bible Answer Man broadcast. I do want to stress once again that this is a ministry supported by listeners just like you. Without your support we

simply could not do what we do. So we ask you to stand with us prayerfully and financially. Please be generous as a result of your giving People are being touched all over the world. We're out of time for today. We'll see you right back here with more of the show.

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 888-7000-CRI.

That's 888-7000-274.

Or visit equip.org where you can listen live or download archived broadcasts. Again, that's equip.org. You can also 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. Music The Complete Bible Answer Book Collector's Edition is the comprehensive collection of the most often asked questions Hank Hanegraaff has received throughout his four decades as host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast. With more than half a million copies already in print, this newly revised and expanded Collector's Edition Help 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 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.

Q&A: This Generation, Megachurches, and Dinosaurs in the Bible

Kapitelklicken springt direkt hin

Shownotes

Transkriptvom Podcast bereitgestellt · Zeitmarken springen hin