# Best of BAM: The Bible as Parable and Not History, and Q&A

An episode of [Bible Answer Man Podcast with Hank Hanegraaff](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/569236334), 25 Apr 2026, 28 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/71621271/bambof20260425.mp3

On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast, Hank comments on statements made by Bill Maher that the entirety of the Bible was not meant to be read as history, but as parable. Hank also answers the following questions: Can you explain the meaning of 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 with respect to building upon the foundation of Christ and testing with fire? Alan - Oklahoma City, OK (7:12) Can you define praying in the Spirit? Duncan - High River, AB (8:50) Why wasn’t King David stoned for adultery? Kevin - Kansas City, KS (15:11) I struggle with depression. One part of the bible says that if I ask believing it will be given, but Paul prayed for the thorn to be removed, yet the thorn remained. How do I make sense of these different responses? Collin - NE (18:58) My son says he saw an angel at the age of three. How do I know if that’s true? Bill - MO (22:53)

## Transcript

[0:07] Speaker 1: Welcome to the best of the Bible answer Man broadcast
[0:10] Speaker 1: with your host, Hank Canagraph. The Bible answer Man is
[0:14] Speaker 1: the radio ministry of the Christian Research Institute, designed to
[0:18] Speaker 1: equip believers to defend their faith and become true disciples
[0:22] Speaker 1: of the Lord Jesus Christ, because life and truth matter.
[0:27] Speaker 1: Our phone number is eight eight eight seven thousand CRII.
[0:31] Speaker 1: That's one eight eight eight seven thousand, two seven four.
[0:35] Speaker 1: You can find us on the Internet at equip dot org.
[0:38] Speaker 1: That's equip dot org. The following program was pre recorded,
[0:44] Speaker 1: and now to begin today's broadcast, here's Hank Canagraph.
[0:48] Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Randy. It is a delight to
[0:50] Speaker 2: be in studio as we answer your questions throughout the
[0:54] Speaker 2: United States and Canada. I want to say just a
[0:56] Speaker 2: few words before we go to our callers. Doing a
[1:00] Speaker 2: lot of research over the last couple of days, and
[1:03] Speaker 2: in the process I have been watching Bill Maher and
[1:07] Speaker 2: he says some of the most amazing things, including the
[1:13] Speaker 2: Bible was not meant to be history. It was not
[1:19] Speaker 2: meant to be literal. They were parables. People read it
[1:25] Speaker 2: back then and read into it something that was not literal.
[1:32] Speaker 2: We're the dummies who read it literally. Well, is he right?
[1:39] Speaker 2: Is the Bible merely parabolic? Is it true that the
[1:46] Speaker 2: Bible was not meant as history? Well, Interestingly enough, the
[1:52] Speaker 2: answer is found in the word genre. Grasping genre or
[2:00] Speaker 2: form is crucial in understanding what a text means by
[2:06] Speaker 2: what the text says. In other words, to interpret the
[2:11] Speaker 2: Bible as literature, it's always crucial to consider the kind
[2:18] Speaker 2: of literature that you are interpreting. Where visionary imagery is
[2:24] Speaker 2: the governing genre, it's foolhardy to interpret literalistically. On the
[2:31] Speaker 2: other hand, where historical narrative is pre eminent, it is
[2:36] Speaker 2: imperative not to over spiritualize. Bill Maher is right to
[2:45] Speaker 2: associate parables with the Bible, but to do so exclusively
[2:51] Speaker 2: is absurd. Of course, no one applied the power of
[2:58] Speaker 2: parable with greater effect than Jesus. In Luke sixteen, he
[3:03] Speaker 2: chronicled the parable of a rich man and a beggar
[3:06] Speaker 2: named Lazarus, who was covered with sores and longing to
[3:10] Speaker 2: eat what fell from the rich man's table, and time
[3:15] Speaker 2: both died, their roles immediately reversed, the beggar found himself
[3:22] Speaker 2: comforted in Abraham's bosomed. The rich man experiencing the foretaste
[3:29] Speaker 2: of eternal torment. Too late he paid attention to the
[3:35] Speaker 2: beggar lying by his gait. Too late, a postponed repentance.
[3:43] Speaker 2: Too late, he heeded the testimony, the law and the prophets.
[3:48] Speaker 2: Too late, too late, too late, Like a heat seeking missile.
[3:56] Speaker 2: The parable of Jesus Christ always hit its mark. Hopefully
[4:03] Speaker 2: the heart of a punmeister will be next. The point
[4:07] Speaker 2: here is to acknowledge that the Bibles replete with parables,
[4:10] Speaker 2: but that is hardly the extent of the matter. Scripture
[4:15] Speaker 2: is a treasure chest that abounds in literary genres. Genres
[4:20] Speaker 2: ranging from poetry to psalms, to historical narratives, didactic epistles,
[4:27] Speaker 2: apocalyptic revelations. We must see the Bible once again as
[4:31] Speaker 2: a treasure chest. Tragically, our postmodern culture does not appreciate
[4:38] Speaker 2: literature the way our ancestors did. We do science well,
[4:44] Speaker 2: but we don't do literature well. We know how to
[4:47] Speaker 2: read Sagan and Dawkins, but seem ill equipped to read
[4:54] Speaker 2: Shakespeare and Dante. One must, ever, remember that the language
[4:58] Speaker 2: of scripture is a heavenly cunduce, so that we might
[5:01] Speaker 2: apprehend both the nature and purposes of an infinite God.
[5:07] Speaker 2: Failure to consider genre leads to a host of unintended consequences.
[5:13] Speaker 2: This is particularly so when it comes to apocalyptic portions
[5:17] Speaker 2: of the Bible. When Jesus says that the stars are
[5:21] Speaker 2: going to fall from the sky, he hardly intends to
[5:24] Speaker 2: be taken literally. One star, of course, would obliterate the earth,
[5:29] Speaker 2: let alone a hundred billion stars. Instead, the heir to
[5:34] Speaker 2: the linguistic riches of the Old Testament prophets in a
[5:37] Speaker 2: greater Propheit than them all used the symbolism of stars
[5:41] Speaker 2: to pronounce judgment within his own generation. Failure to consider
[5:46] Speaker 2: genre might lead to laughs in a comedy routine, but
[5:52] Speaker 2: from an eternal perspective, the effect is not nearly as funny.
[5:58] Speaker 2: And of course we have to look at life with
[6:01] Speaker 2: eternity in mind. If we do, the consequences are life
[6:09] Speaker 2: with a savior. If we don't, the consequences of the
[6:15] Speaker 2: rich man found out are sheer torment. Only two kinds
[6:21] Speaker 2: of people in the world, those who follow Christ and
[6:25] Speaker 2: those who deny Christ, those who are Christians and those
[6:30] Speaker 2: who are anti Christians. Which one are you? And if
[6:35] Speaker 2: you are a Christian, are you committed to making your
[6:39] Speaker 2: life count for time and for eternity. One of the
[6:42] Speaker 2: ways you can do that is to join with this
[6:45] Speaker 2: ministry in making a difference. You can join the support team.
[6:51] Speaker 2: When you do, I'll send you a copy of the
[6:54] Speaker 2: Complete Bible answer Book Collector's Edition, personalized to you as
[6:59] Speaker 2: my way saying thank you. Check it out on the
[7:02] Speaker 2: webit equipped dot work has always resource consultants standing by
[7:06] Speaker 2: Triple eight seven thousand and the letters. See all right,
[7:10] Speaker 2: let's go right to the phone lines. Now we'll talk
[7:13] Speaker 2: first to Allan. He's listening in Oklahoma. Hi, Allen, Hey,
[7:16] Speaker 2: how you doing good?
[7:17] Speaker 3: Are you not too bad?
[7:21] Speaker 4: Fually?
[7:21] Speaker 3: A simple question concerning In First Corinthians, Chapter three, UH
[7:27] Speaker 3: verses ten through fifteen, Paul talks about landa foundation which
[7:31] Speaker 3: is christ and that builders can come and build on it,
[7:34] Speaker 3: that they should be careful on what materials they use,
[7:37] Speaker 3: because they'll be tested with fire. And those that we
[7:41] Speaker 3: stand the fire will receive their reward. But the one
[7:46] Speaker 3: of the fires destroy the builders will suffer loss. They
[7:50] Speaker 3: yet be say that as even though only as escaping
[7:54] Speaker 3: through the fire. What does that mean?
[7:56] Speaker 2: What Paul is doing here is illustrating the reality that
[7:59] Speaker 2: there are some Christians who will be resurrected with precious
[8:03] Speaker 2: little to show for the time they spend on earth.
[8:06] Speaker 2: They'll be, as Paul said, saved, but only as one
[8:09] Speaker 2: escaping through the flames. So Christ, whose eyes are like
[8:14] Speaker 2: blazing fire in the metaphor, is going to incinerate the
[8:18] Speaker 2: work of those who build monuments to themselves, those who
[8:22] Speaker 2: used wood, hay or straw. On the other hand, those
[8:27] Speaker 2: who built selflessly upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. And
[8:31] Speaker 2: that's why he starts out by saying, no one can
[8:33] Speaker 2: lay any other foundation other than the one already laid,
[8:36] Speaker 2: which is Jesus Christ. Those who build on that foundation,
[8:40] Speaker 2: using gold, silver, and costly stones, will receive enduring rewards.
[8:46] Speaker 2: The point here is that what we do now counts
[8:49] Speaker 2: for all eternity. Let's go back to the phone lines now,
[8:51] Speaker 2: talk to Duncan. He's listening in High River, Alberta, Canada.
[8:55] Speaker 2: High Duncan, Hello, Hank, are good, thank you.
[9:00] Speaker 5: But my question is in regards to the definition of
[9:04] Speaker 5: praying in the spirit. I tend to Pentecostal style of church,
[9:12] Speaker 5: I suppose, and it is I didn't grow up in
[9:15] Speaker 5: that and this teaching that I'm learning recently, is it
[9:20] Speaker 5: seems a little bit odd to me, and the way
[9:23] Speaker 5: I understand praying in the spirit is praying as led
[9:27] Speaker 5: by the Holy Spirit, which is completely different from what
[9:30] Speaker 5: I'm being taught, and I just would like to get
[9:34] Speaker 5: to get your idea on that.
[9:36] Speaker 6: Please.
[9:37] Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's important to recognize that this is
[9:40] Speaker 2: something that Paul includes in Ethesians chapter six, verses ten
[9:46] Speaker 2: through twenty as the full armor of God, and what
[9:50] Speaker 2: he's saying there is to pray in the spirit is
[9:54] Speaker 2: to recognize the sovereignty of God over every detail of
[9:57] Speaker 2: our lives. So an effect, you're saying, thank God, this
[10:01] Speaker 2: world is under his control, not mine. Furthermore, to pray
[10:06] Speaker 2: in the spirit on all occasions is to take up
[10:09] Speaker 2: the sword of the spirit. What is the sword of
[10:12] Speaker 2: the spirit is the Word of God, delineated once again
[10:15] Speaker 2: as that in Ephesian six, but certainly throughout the Bible
[10:20] Speaker 2: as well. And then, finally, to pray in the Spirit
[10:23] Speaker 2: on all occasions means to continually meditate on the Word
[10:28] Speaker 2: of God. Meditating on the Word of God is the
[10:31] Speaker 2: missing link between the intake of scripture and an effective
[10:36] Speaker 2: prayer life. So praying in the spirit is inextricably woven
[10:41] Speaker 2: together with having intimacy with Jesus Christ, having intimacy with God,
[10:47] Speaker 2: which is precisely what prayer is all about. So often
[10:51] Speaker 2: we see prayer as a laundry list of requests or supplications,
[10:56] Speaker 2: But prayers more than that. Prayer is developed intimacy with
[11:01] Speaker 2: the lover of your soul.
[11:02] Speaker 1: We'll be right back. The famous British apologist G. K.
[11:06] Speaker 1: Chesterton once noted, the true soldier fights not because he
[11:10] Speaker 1: hates what is in front of him, but because he
[11:12] Speaker 1: loves what is behind him. Because at CRII we love
[11:15] Speaker 1: what is behind us, our faith, our families, and our freedoms.
[11:19] Speaker 1: We will never retreat quietly from the growing assaults on
[11:23] Speaker 1: life and truth, even when the costs are great. We
[11:26] Speaker 1: will stand to join like minded friends in making a
[11:30] Speaker 1: difference at home and around the globe, and to equip
[11:33] Speaker 1: fellow believers to stand their ground courageously. Become a member
[11:36] Speaker 1: of CRI's support team. Simply call eight eight eight seven
[11:41] Speaker 1: thousand CRII. That's eight eight eight seven thousand CRI. Or
[11:46] Speaker 1: visit our website at equip dot org. Stay with us.
[11:51] Speaker 1: Hank Canigraph will return in a few moments. Has God spoken,
[12:07] Speaker 1: are the words of Scripture merely human in origin, or
[12:10] Speaker 1: are they, in fact the very words of God himself.
[12:15] Speaker 1: Three years in the making and based on two decades
[12:18] Speaker 1: of research and reflection, Hank Henagraph's monumental book Has God
[12:23] Speaker 1: Spoken answers what is surely the most important question facing
[12:27] Speaker 1: our world. In Has God Spoken? Memorable proofs of the
[12:31] Speaker 1: Bible's divine inspiration, Hank counters the contentions of the Bible
[12:35] Speaker 1: attackers and clearly shows that belief in the Holy Scriptures
[12:38] Speaker 1: is not a guess or wishful thinking. It is the
[12:41] Speaker 1: only logical conclusion after an honest examination of overwhelming evidence.
[12:46] Speaker 1: Order Has God Spoken? From the Christian Research Institute by
[12:50] Speaker 1: calling eighty eight seven thousand CRII, or go online to
[12:54] Speaker 1: equip dot org equip dot Org. Anyone who's been paying
[13:02] Speaker 1: attention knows there's a war going on, not just on
[13:05] Speaker 1: traditional morality, civility, and decency, but even more fundamentally on
[13:10] Speaker 1: historic notions of truth. And the enemy isn't just the
[13:13] Speaker 1: onslaught of fake news, facilitated by a post truth culture
[13:17] Speaker 1: and turbocharged by growing legions of ideological spinductors. Note the
[13:22] Speaker 1: real enemies of truth range from postmodernist convictions that there
[13:26] Speaker 1: is no objective truth, to militant scientism that claims that
[13:30] Speaker 1: only science can determine truth, and religion is little more
[13:34] Speaker 1: than primitive superstitions. But CRI Support Team members are not
[13:38] Speaker 1: waving a white flag of surrender. They're holding the fort
[13:41] Speaker 1: by undergirding everyone of Christian Research Institute's mind shaping and
[13:46] Speaker 1: life changing outreaches twenty four to seven. To learn how
[13:49] Speaker 1: you can make a difference and enjoy all the benefits
[13:52] Speaker 1: of Support Team membership, simply visit equip dot org. Doctor
[14:03] Speaker 1: even Alexandra's wildly popular near death experience book Proof of
[14:08] Speaker 1: Heaven assures us that no matter what we do in
[14:11] Speaker 1: this life, only unconditional love and joy await us in
[14:14] Speaker 1: the world to come. But our Lord warned that while
[14:17] Speaker 1: the gate to Hell is wide, the road to it broad,
[14:20] Speaker 1: and those who enter through it are many, the gate
[14:23] Speaker 1: is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life,
[14:26] Speaker 1: and those who find it are few. Your generous support,
[14:29] Speaker 1: let's Hank hanograph and see Uri speak out against the
[14:33] Speaker 1: lies that lead to Hell. In appreciation for your gift, today,
[14:37] Speaker 1: we'll rush you Hank's book After Life. What you need
[14:40] Speaker 1: to know about heaven, the hereafter and near death experiences
[14:44] Speaker 1: filled with answers to your questions about life after death.
[14:48] Speaker 1: Call eight eight eight seven thousand CROI or visit equip
[14:52] Speaker 1: dot org. Now again that's equip dot org. And now
[15:08] Speaker 1: here's Hank Kanagraph.
[15:09] Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Randy, and let's return to our callers.
[15:12] Speaker 2: Next up as Kevin listing on Kansas City, Kansas. Hi, Kevin, Oh, hey,
[15:17] Speaker 2: how you doing good?
[15:18] Speaker 7: Her?
[15:18] Speaker 4: Are you confused and desperately in need of some guidance here?
[15:23] Speaker 4: In regards to divorce and re marriage. Brief story of
[15:27] Speaker 4: my life roughly six years ago, I kind of drifted
[15:30] Speaker 4: away from the Lord when I committed adultery. Well, what
[15:33] Speaker 4: happened was my first wife ended up divorcing me, And
[15:37] Speaker 4: part of that was in my own manipulation and the
[15:39] Speaker 4: hardness of my heart. I really was just I was
[15:42] Speaker 4: in a bad place and I was just doing what
[15:43] Speaker 4: I wanted to do, committing sexual sin. Long story short,
[15:47] Speaker 4: she divorced me, and in that same kind of frame
[15:51] Speaker 4: of mind, I remarried. She's remarried. I ended up remarrying
[15:55] Speaker 4: the woman that I committed adultery with, and I had
[15:58] Speaker 4: stumbled on to some teachings people who are stating that
[16:01] Speaker 4: if you remarry, especially if you're the guilty party, that
[16:05] Speaker 4: the only way for things to be made right would
[16:07] Speaker 4: be for you to leave that relationship, whether there's children,
[16:10] Speaker 4: involve anything, And they had said that, you know, obviously,
[16:13] Speaker 4: if you don't, then you're not really repentant, and without
[16:15] Speaker 4: that there's no remission of sins. So, long story short,
[16:19] Speaker 4: I was reading through about King David's life and Nathan
[16:22] Speaker 4: the Prophet came to him when David confessed and said
[16:24] Speaker 4: that you surely will not die, and I'm assuming that's
[16:26] Speaker 4: because of the consequences due to breaking the seventh commandment
[16:31] Speaker 4: that not committing adults.
[16:33] Speaker 2: You correct, Well, there's a whole thing going on with
[16:36] Speaker 2: Nathan because David is completely in denial, and so he
[16:41] Speaker 2: has told a story to which she responds, kill that man,
[16:45] Speaker 2: and then Nathan the Prophet points his finger and says,
[16:48] Speaker 2: you are that man. He is talking about a whole
[16:52] Speaker 2: plethora of sins that are committed by David, the sins
[16:56] Speaker 2: beginning with adultery even before that taking a census, but
[17:01] Speaker 2: also culminating in the death of Uriah, the husband of
[17:07] Speaker 2: beth Sheba, who David effectively had killed on the battlefront.
[17:12] Speaker 2: Although he did it through surrogates, he still was the
[17:14] Speaker 2: one that caused it to happen.
[17:16] Speaker 4: So why was David not stoned for his adultery?
[17:21] Speaker 2: Pretty hard to kill the king, I think that's the
[17:24] Speaker 2: common sense answer from a practical standpoint. It's pretty hard
[17:28] Speaker 2: to kill the king. Not only that, but Deuteronomy nineteen
[17:32] Speaker 2: fifteen requires two or three witnesses to convict of a crime.
[17:36] Speaker 2: David had this done through surrogates in a war scene,
[17:41] Speaker 2: So very very hard, I would say, to convict David
[17:45] Speaker 2: of this crime. But did David get away with it?
[17:49] Speaker 2: Absolutely not. I mean, the text says that the consequences
[17:54] Speaker 2: of David's sin followed inexorably, like night follows day. And
[17:58] Speaker 2: that's not the tech in the sense of a text,
[18:01] Speaker 2: but the text of scripture as a whole underscores the
[18:06] Speaker 2: fact that consequences always follow sin. But God can forgive.
[18:11] Speaker 2: God can not only forgive, but continue to use. And
[18:15] Speaker 2: so in a modern day circumstance, going to your own situation,
[18:20] Speaker 2: I don't think that you can unscramble the egg and
[18:23] Speaker 2: to get a divorce now with simply adding insult to injury,
[18:28] Speaker 2: it would be a horrendous sin to end the marriage
[18:31] Speaker 2: that you're in right now. The fact of the matter
[18:34] Speaker 2: is you need to forget what is behind. Learn from it,
[18:37] Speaker 2: of course, but forget it. Press on, confess your sin,
[18:40] Speaker 2: as David did in Psalm fifty one. Move on, do
[18:44] Speaker 2: everything that you can to be the best husband and
[18:48] Speaker 2: father that you can be in the present circumstance.
[18:53] Speaker 4: All right, I appreciate your time, Henk.
[18:55] Speaker 2: You got it to appreciate your call as well. I
[18:57] Speaker 2: want to go back to the phone lines now and
[18:59] Speaker 2: talk to calling in Nebraska. Hi, Colin, how are you doing?
[19:03] Speaker 7: A very nice to.
[19:05] Speaker 6: Talk to you.
[19:07] Speaker 7: I appreciate that you address the issues at the point
[19:11] Speaker 7: of contention. I really do. I have a family. I
[19:18] Speaker 7: have an eleven year old boy, nine year old girl,
[19:21] Speaker 7: a wife who is somewhat younger than I am, and
[19:26] Speaker 7: the Lord has blessed me richly. We have a background
[19:32] Speaker 7: of depression in our family. I have three uncles and
[19:36] Speaker 7: an aunt who spent more than a year in a
[19:40] Speaker 7: state hospital for depression. There's no reason why I should
[19:44] Speaker 7: be depressed. And so my question is I know that
[19:51] Speaker 7: the scripture says whatsoever I ask, believing will be given
[19:56] Speaker 7: unto me. And I also know that Paul the apostle,
[20:02] Speaker 7: who wrote more than half of the New Testament, although
[20:06] Speaker 7: he considered himself the chief of sinners, was truly a believer.
[20:12] Speaker 7: And he said that he asked three times for this
[20:15] Speaker 7: thorn to be removed from his side. So the Lord replied,
[20:22] Speaker 7: my grace is sufficient to you. I've been praying and
[20:30] Speaker 7: doing what I can, but some mornings I wake up
[20:34] Speaker 7: and I'm crying for no reason. So I just wonder
[20:39] Speaker 7: at the scripture that says whatsoever you ask will be
[20:42] Speaker 7: given unto you if you believe it. And I'm just
[20:46] Speaker 7: relating that to Paul's request that this thorn be removed
[20:51] Speaker 7: from his side.
[20:52] Speaker 2: You know, well a couple things. First of all, you
[20:54] Speaker 2: have to realize that every prayer of the believer is,
[20:58] Speaker 2: whether you say it out loud or not, it is
[21:02] Speaker 2: qualified by nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done.
[21:07] Speaker 2: Because as a believer, we recognize that God sees the
[21:11] Speaker 2: totality of our lives. We only see a snapshot at
[21:15] Speaker 2: a time, so he knows what's best for us. And
[21:18] Speaker 2: as you relate that to what happens in Two Corinthians
[21:21] Speaker 2: chapter twelve, you have a Hebrew idiom, which is that
[21:29] Speaker 2: the thorn in the flesh was a continual reminder to
[21:34] Speaker 2: Paul that he was dependent upon God. So the thorn
[21:41] Speaker 2: of the flesh is an idiom for the continual persecutions
[21:45] Speaker 2: that Paul is facing. And Paul may be using this
[21:51] Speaker 2: idiom in the same way that it's used in numbers
[21:54] Speaker 2: thirty three, where the Canaanites, who are not driven out
[21:58] Speaker 2: of the Promised Land and allowed to remain, are a
[22:03] Speaker 2: thorn in the flesh and a reminder that kept Israel
[22:06] Speaker 2: dependent upon God and away from dependence upon themselves. So
[22:13] Speaker 2: times we have these thorns in our own flesh, and
[22:16] Speaker 2: if we didn't, we would give into the flesh. We
[22:20] Speaker 2: would start to rest upon the arm of flesh as
[22:24] Speaker 2: opposed to resting on the arm of God. It's important,
[22:30] Speaker 2: just from a practical standpoint listening to your question, to
[22:33] Speaker 2: ask the question are you under a physician's care? Perhaps
[22:37] Speaker 2: you should see a medical doctor. There may be underlying
[22:40] Speaker 2: physical conditions that need medical intervention as well. So this
[22:45] Speaker 2: can be dealt with on two levels, one a spiritual
[22:48] Speaker 2: level of course, the other a common sense physical level
[22:51] Speaker 2: as well. Back to the phone lines, we talked to Bill,
[22:55] Speaker 2: he's listening in Missouri.
[22:56] Speaker 6: Hi Bill, Hi Hank, how are you good?
[22:59] Speaker 2: Thank you.
[23:01] Speaker 6: When my young my oldest son, was three years old,
[23:04] Speaker 6: he told us that an angel came to him. How
[23:08] Speaker 6: do you determine if that's real or not.
[23:10] Speaker 2: Well, it's very hard to deal with anecdotes, right, It's
[23:15] Speaker 2: very hard to falsify an experience like that. Certainly, angels
[23:20] Speaker 2: are real. Angels have appeared to people in biblical times.
[23:26] Speaker 2: Certainly I wouldn't think that would be normative. But you
[23:29] Speaker 2: can't absolutely rule out the possibility that happened. But even
[23:33] Speaker 2: if an angel of enlightenment appears to you according to scripture,
[23:37] Speaker 2: you need to test what that angel is saying in
[23:41] Speaker 2: light of what scripture has said, because the revelation of
[23:44] Speaker 2: an angel does not supersede the revelation that we have
[23:49] Speaker 2: already been given in the Word of God.
[23:53] Speaker 6: Okay, here's the little story is both my sons are adopted,
[23:57] Speaker 6: and when we had it, when we got our second son,
[24:00] Speaker 6: and now my first son was at four months old
[24:04] Speaker 6: or at six months old and ten months old, was
[24:05] Speaker 6: switched from different families, so he had very big separation anxiety.
[24:10] Speaker 6: When we got my second son, for about a month
[24:14] Speaker 6: after we got him. For about a month and a half,
[24:16] Speaker 6: he was just nails on a chalkboard. I mean, I
[24:22] Speaker 6: really dread it going home to him because he was
[24:24] Speaker 6: just so obnoxious. He said that he saw the Angel
[24:28] Speaker 6: and that the angel told him that we weren't going
[24:30] Speaker 6: to get rid of him, and after that.
[24:35] Speaker 5: He changed.
[24:36] Speaker 6: I mean, he was fun to be with. Wow, an
[24:39] Speaker 6: angel often? Or am I just imagining that?
[24:43] Speaker 2: Well, as I said, I can't rule that out. But
[24:45] Speaker 2: here's the thing, what a beautiful look into his soul,
[24:49] Speaker 2: recognizing that one of the reasons he was acting out
[24:52] Speaker 2: as he was acting out is he was afraid that
[24:56] Speaker 2: he'd be given away to someone again. And you've given
[24:59] Speaker 2: him that.
[25:00] Speaker 6: I mean, he believed we would get rid of them.
[25:02] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[25:03] Speaker 6: Wow, And that's the thing. That's why I thought, you know,
[25:07] Speaker 6: I did? I did. I just don't know, I mean,
[25:09] Speaker 6: because I'm not a good Christian. But I mean, for years,
[25:12] Speaker 6: it's always bothered me because after that we had the
[25:16] Speaker 6: greatest day and he did change. He wasn't that way anymore.
[25:21] Speaker 6: After that.
[25:22] Speaker 2: Well, let me say a couple of things. One thing,
[25:24] Speaker 2: thank God for that transition. Secondly, when you say now
[25:28] Speaker 2: that greater Christian The real issue becomes involving yourself in
[25:33] Speaker 2: the means of growth in the Christian life. That comes
[25:36] Speaker 2: through prayer, that comes through disciplining yourself to get into
[25:41] Speaker 2: the Word of God. Get the Word of God into you.
[25:43] Speaker 2: Involvement produces commitment. It means being part of a healthy,
[25:47] Speaker 2: well balanced church. It also means that you will share
[25:53] Speaker 2: not only with your kids, but with others what God
[25:55] Speaker 2: has done in your life. In the process, you will grow,
[25:59] Speaker 2: and you'll once the presence of the Holy Spirit, and
[26:01] Speaker 2: you as yet can continue to make a difference not
[26:06] Speaker 2: only for time, but also for eternity. What an inspirational story.
[26:10] Speaker 2: Thanks for tuning in with see you next time right
[26:12] Speaker 2: here with more of the show.
[26:14] Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning into the Bible answer Man broadcast. Our
[26:18] Speaker 1: website equip dot org has an abundance of resources to
[26:22] Speaker 1: sharpen your discernment skills and help you grow in life
[26:25] Speaker 1: and truth. We provide books, videos, and informative articles. You
[26:30] Speaker 1: can also listen to the broadcast, download archived programs, get
[26:34] Speaker 1: answers to pressing Bible questions, or connect with us via
[26:38] Speaker 1: social media. All this and more at equip dot org. Again,
[26:42] Speaker 1: the address is equip dot org. The Bible answer Man
[26:47] Speaker 1: broadcast is supported by listeners like you. We're on the
[26:51] Speaker 1: air because life and truth matter. Has God Spoken? Are
[27:08] Speaker 1: the words of Scripture merely human in origin? Or are they,
[27:11] Speaker 1: in fact the very words of God himself. Three years
[27:16] Speaker 1: in the making and based on two decades of research
[27:18] Speaker 1: and reflection, Hank Henagraph's monumental book Has God Spoken answers
[27:24] Speaker 1: what is surely the most important question facing our world.
[27:27] Speaker 1: In Has God Spoken? Memorable Proofs of the Bible's Divine inspiration,
[27:32] Speaker 1: Hank counters the contentions of the Bible attackers and clearly
[27:36] Speaker 1: shows that belief in the Holy Scriptures is not a
[27:39] Speaker 1: guess or wishful thinking. It is the only logical conclusion
[27:43] Speaker 1: after an honest examination of overwhelming evidence. Ordered Has God
[27:47] Speaker 1: Spoken from the Christian Research Institute by calling eighty eight
[27:51] Speaker 1: seven thousand CRII or go online to equip dot org.
[27:56] Speaker 1: Equip dot Org

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