What Is Your Authority? and Q&A

Broadcasting across the United States, Canada, and around the world, this is the Bible Answer Man broadcast. Your host for the program is Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute. We're on the air because life and truth matter. For more information, resources, or to donate to CRI, call 888-7000-CRI or go online to equip.org.

That's equip.org.

The following program was pre-recorded. To start today's Bible Answer Man broadcast, here's your host, Hank Hanegraaff.

The fundamental difference between Mormonism and Christianity is the matter of authority. In other words, we always ask this question, what is your authority? For a Mormon, it is the Book of Mormon. They say it is the most correct of any Book on earth, it is the keystone to their religion. Of course, there's a problem. There's no archaeological evidence for a language such as Reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics. There's no archaeological evidence for the great civilizations chronicled in the Book of Mormon. There's no archaeological evidence for such lands as the land of Moron. which is described in Ether 7-6.

And there's no anthropological evidence that the Nephites and the Lamanites migrated from Jerusalem to Mesomerica. Indeed, both archaeology and anthropology militate against the people, the places, and the particulars that are part and parcel of the Book of Mormon, and thus demonstrate conclusively that the book is little more than the product of a fertile and enterprising imagination. Unlike the Book of Mormon, the Bible is buttressed by history and by evidence. While the archaeologist's spade continues to mount up evidence against the Book of Mormon, it has piled up proof upon proof for what we find inscribed on the parchment and papyrus of biblical manuscripts. A classic case in point is this. Like the Nephites, the Hittites, from

whom Abraham purchased a burial plot for his wife Sarah, have long been rendered the stuff of myths and fables. However, archaeologists digging east of Ankara, Turkey, discover the ruins of Hattusus, the ancient Hittite city. as well as its vast collection of Hittite historical records, which shows an empire flourishing in the mid-second millennium before Christ. So time and time again, comprehensive archaeological fieldwork has affirmed the reliability of the Bible, and it is telling, in fact, when secular scholars have to revise their biblical criticism in light of solid archaeological evidence. Again, the issue here is, what is your evidence? Christians say it is the Bible. Mormons say the Book of Mormon

is the most correct of any book on earth. The question now is, where's the evidence? I've pointed out the evidence for the Bible being the infallible repository of redemptive revelation in my book, Has God Spoken?, available through the Ministry of the Christian Research Institute. and also demonstrated that the Mormon faith is little more than a mirage. In Memorable Keys to the Mormon Mirage, a flip chart available for your gift to the Ministry of the Christian Research Institute.

These resources and more found on the web at equip.org. A lot of you hanging on. We'll go right to the phone calls. First up, we'll talk to Gene in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hi, Gene.

Hi, Hank.

Thanks for taking my call.

My pleasure.

I had a question about religious pluralists.

How do I address them?

Well, I think the first thing you want to do is begin an examination of world religions and then find out in that examination that they logically can all be wrong, but they can't all be right. And here's the point. If you look at Judaism or Hinduism or Buddhism, you're going to immediately recognize that they directly contradict one another.

Classic case in point, Moses taught that there was only one God. Krishna believed in many gods, and Buddha was an agnostic. So, again, they can all be wrong, but they can't all be right.

Okay.

Makes sense to me.

Yeah, and look at what Christianity teaches. It's diametrically opposite of what world religions teach. Christianity says there's no way to reach up and become acceptable to God by what we do. Religions say that you can, in fact, become acceptable to God or one with nirvana by.

What you do.

So the road of Christianity is God reaching down. World religions are all about humans reaching up. So there's a big distinction between world religions and Christianity, and only Christianity... corresponds to reality in that only Christianity is ultimately historic and evidential.

Is there any scripture or history in the Bible that could support that?

Oh, absolutely, yes. In fact, the most incredible thing that you can look at is Jesus Christ himself, who said that he was the only way to God. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And Jesus validated that claim through the immutable fact of his resurrection.

So the opinion of all other religious leaders are equally valid in that they're equally worthless.

They died.

They're still dead. Only Jesus had the power to lay down his life and to take it up again, and therefore his opinion is infinitely more valuable than theirs.

Hey, thank you very much, Hank.

You got it. I've written about this in various places, including the Complete Bible Answer Book Collector's Edition, which is available through the Ministry of the Christian Research Institute. Back to the phone lines. And we'll talk next to Jeremy listening in Phoenix, Arizona. He's listening on the web. Hi, Jeremy.

Hi, how you doing?

I'm doing well.

A question we've had to deal with, in what way can you, in a loving way, approach someone who, who's currently being witnessed to by a Mormon. It comes from today when I watched a couple of Mormons walk into someone's house for a meeting. And my heart immediately gets all tense and wants me to jump, knock down the door and just scream, stop. That's obviously a little too extreme.

How to approach someone who's being witnessed to by a Mormon in kind of a loving way is to not be rude to the Mormon, but to not scare off that potential soul.

Yeah, well, and I think it's really important for us to recognize that the Mormon is doing for a lie what oftentimes Christians aren't willing to do for the truth. So at the baseline, here's what this should be a warning about. It should be a warning about the fact that we as Christians are abdicating our responsibility to be salt and light. And so we see the Mormon doing what we should be doing. And I'm not suggesting that we should run around frantically grabbing people by the lapel saying, brother, are you saved? But I am suggesting that we should be equipped to always be ready to give an answer or reason for the hope that lies within us and also use the deviations that are circulated by the Mormons

as opportunities for sharing the truth. So here you have someone, probably not a Christian, the Mormons witnessing to that person, and you're worried that they're going to fall for Mormonism. Well, we should be equipped so that when we have an opportunity for dialogue, we can use, again, the deviation as an opportunity for sharing the truth.

Okay, that makes sense. I appreciate it, sir.

You got it. And that's, of course, precisely why we've produced memorable keys to the Mormon mirage. It's not about Mormon bashing. It's about equipping Christians to know what they believe and why they believe it so that they can be a witness to those who are trapped in a false belief system, a system that can't save, a system that is communicating a view of righteousness that that comes not solely through Jesus Christ, a view of eternity that is ultimately skewed in a bad direction. There's no such thing as a telestial, terrestrial, and celestial heaven. That's imagination.

It's not real, and we should know the real and be able to distinguish between that which is real and that which is not real. Again, Memorable keys to the Mormon Mirage for your gift to the ministry.

It is a very worthwhile, accurate.

instructive piece to equip you. That's what we're trying to do. We're trying to equip God's people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up and strengthened. You can order on the web at equip.org or you can call 888-7000-CRI or go to the mailbox at Box 8500, Charlotte, North Carolina. Zip code 28271. Stick in your letter.

We'll get it.

As we go to break, I do want to mention we need many people to join the support team. Hopefully I can emphasize that enough. It is the foundation for our ministry stability and growth as we move forward into the future. So please, if you can, join. And when you do, I'll send you the complete Bible answer book.

Collector's Edition is my way of saying thank you for joining a group of people that are making a difference for time and for eternity. I'll personalize it to you, a family member or a friend. Check it out on the web at equip.org. We'll be right back with more answers to your questions in just a few moments, so please don't touch that dial.

The famous British apologist G.K. Chesterton once noted, the true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him. Because at CRI, we love what is behind us, our faith, our families, and our freedoms. We will never retreat quietly from the growing assaults on life and truth. Even when the costs are great, we will stand. To join like-minded friends in making a difference at home and around the globe, and to equip fellow believers to stand their ground courageously, become a member of CRI's support team. Simply call 888-7000-CRI.

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Website at equip.org. Stay with us. Hank Hanegraaff will return in a few moments.

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

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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. Once again, here is Hank Hanegraaff.

And right back to our phone callers. Next up is Gerald listening in. Springfield, Missouri. Hi, Gerald.

Hello, Hank. Thank you for taking my call. I appreciate your message and what you do for the Christian people.

Thank you.

I just had something I wanted you to touch on about Jehovah's Witness and how you feel about their beliefs and maybe touch on a little bit about what they believe in.

Well, I mean, they're teaching their devotees that the Trinity is a freakish-looking, three-headed god. And they go on to say that this freakish, three-headed God was invented by Satan, and that Jesus Christ is merely a God. So in their theology, Jesus was created by God as the archangel Michael, and then during his earthly sojourn, he became a mere human being, and then after his crucifixion, he was recreated an immaterial spirit creature. So their view... of reality, particularly when it comes to the nature of God, is seriously skewed.

Okay. Well, the reason I wanted you to touch on it a little bit is my ex-wife and her husband are Jehovah Witness now, and my youngest daughter lived with my ex-wife, and I'm just kind of concerned about what they're teaching her now.

Yeah, it's a very false view of reality. In fact, in their view, the cross is a pagan symbol. It was adopted by an apostate church, and salvation is impossible from the Watchtower organization. So this, from a theological perspective, is a heretical cult. And again, we're making the distinction between a cult from a sociological perspective and a cult from a theological perspective. But I do think that there's danger sociologically as well in that, Jehovah's Witnesses are barred from all kinds of things. In 1931, Jehovah's Witnesses were instructed to refuse vaccinations. Now, that's gone through transition because by 1952, the regulation was rescinded. In 1967, organ transplants were ruled a forbidden form of cannibalism. By 1990, that

edict was erased as well. Tens of thousands have not only been ravished spiritually by the Watchtower Society, but have paid the ultimate physical price as well. So I think it's a very dangerous movement.

Okay. Well, I know they had some pretty strange ideas, but I appreciate you answering. God bless you.

You got it.

Thank you so much for your call. Let's go right back to the phone lines. Let's talk to Joanne listening in Pennsylvania.

Hi, Joanne.

Hello, Hank. Thank you so much for taking my call. I have a question regarding the Mennonite faith. I don't know too much about it. My daughter-in-law and son have been attending some of their services, and some of the things they're telling me about this group I'm sort of leery of. For one thing, you have to, in order to belong to their membership, you have to follow certain rules as far as wearing special dress codes, no TV, you're not allowed to have a red Corvette, and you can't carry insurance and things like that. And you're not allowed to take communion unless you adhere to those rules.

So they're going, but they're not allowed to partake in communion. And To me, that goes beyond the, you know, what the Lord requires for communion. And also, their rule for excommunication is if you don't obey those certain rules that they've set up. So I was just wondering, I don't know if it's like a cult, or is it just something where they want to live more of a secular life, you know, separated from the world?

More of a sacred life, yes. Separated from the world, yeah. Well, actually, this is kind of an interesting question on a lot of different levels because one of the things we say on the Bible Answer Man broadcast and through the ministry of the Christian Research Institute is that in essentials there has to be unity and non-essentials liberty and all things charity.

And certainly you can make a good case for the fact that Mennonites by and large hold to the essentials of the historic Christian faith. But they do have a lot of very unusual prescriptions within their particular movement. This was a Christian group with Anabaptist origins in Holland, in Germany, and in Switzerland that taught believers baptism, pacifism, And then what you alluded to, personal purity in Christian living. And so in their particular distinctions, they are making radical separations from the world. By the way, the most conservative branch of Mennonites are the Amish. So there's certainly a lot in common between the average Mennonite and the average Amish person as well, because they have the same root structure

coming out of the Anabaptist movement. So it's a radical Reformation movement.

Well, I'm wondering, is that type of legalism?

Well, a lot of them do hold to strict legalistic prescriptions. The real question has to be, do these particular Mennonites hold to the essentials of the historic Christian faith? The Mennonites actually were named after a man named Meadow Simmons. He was a 16th century Dutchman. And again, the Amish as a faction are within that particular movement. They're trying to freeze history at the 17th century in some sense.

So a lot of the even modern developments in history are repudiated. And he kind of alluded to that in the prologue to the question. But by and large, they do hold to major essential Christian doctrines. But they do have this emphasis on law and holiness, and sometimes that emphasis is seriously out of kilter.

Okay.

Do you think that if they did become members that they would fall from grace, though, if they're following those certain criterias? It's almost like they're man-made rules that they're going to put themselves under then. That's the thing that concerns me. Then I think, although they keep saying, you know, they believe in salvation... like you're saying, the essentials of the Christian faith. But then when you add these things on, is that wrong?

Well, I think a lot of these things are wrong, and that's why I personally wouldn't become a Mennonite, and I personally wouldn't be Amish. They reject serving in public office, for example, as ministers of the state. They think that that's a wrong thing to do. You can be a minister in the sacred, but you can't be a minister in the secular. And there are a lot of things that they reject. There are laws against electricity and cars and buttons and all these kinds of things. But again, the issue ultimately is, do they adhere to the essentials of the historic Christian faith? And even though we might have great differences with an Orthodox Mennonite on secondary matters, like their view on passivism or their view on electricity,

we could stand shoulder to shoulder with them on the essentials of the historic Christian faith. So, I mean, ultimately it has to be an essentials unity, non-essentials liberty, and all things charity. But that does not mean that the secondary issues that we're discussing are not important issues. Of course they are.

Okay. Well, that's very helpful to me. I appreciate your helpful And thank you so much for taking my call.

You are welcome, Joanne. Thank you so much for calling. Let's go back to the phone lines. Next up, Mildred listening in Kansas. Hi, Mildred.

Hi, Hank. Thank you for taking my call.

You are welcome.

I listen all the time to your program.

Thank you.

You just answered a lady that called about the Mennonite faith. I'm of the Mennonite faith, but I would like to correct you on some things.

Okay.

There are ever so many different kinds of Mennonites.

That's true.

As many as are Baptists.

Yes, yes, that's right.

Actually, many of our pastors have served in Baptist churches and vice versa. Our pastor, our present pastor, was raised a Baptist and came to us a Baptist ministry. So, yes, We do have a background. We have connections with all the other Mennonites and certainly consider ourselves of the Anabaptist faith.

But our particular denomination separated from the larger Mennonite church back in Ukraine in 1860. And it was over some of the essentials of faith, of the doctrine, and also lifestyle. And it has changed. We've changed through the years. And we certainly don't practice many of the strange things.

Yes.

Yes, you wouldn't know the difference between the Baptist and the Mennonite brethren, essentially. So I would encourage this lady caller to investigate the individual church. Our church, our denomination, individual churches can act autonomously on things that are not of essential faith.

Yeah, Mildred, I agree with you, and I am sorry I didn't communicate that clearly. I did try to communicate that the Amish were a reactionary faction within the Mennonite movement, and they essentially tried to freeze history of the 17th century. So I was trying to point out that it was not monolithic. It was multifaceted. But I think your comments have been very, very helpful in that regard.

Thank you.

I appreciate you calling me today, Mildred.

Thank you.

God bless you.

Thank you for listening.

You are welcome. Thanks so much for tuning in. We'll look forward to seeing you next time with another edition of the Bible Answer Man broadcast.

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. 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.

What Is Your Authority? and Q&A

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