# Best of BAM: Spiritual Multiplication, and Q&A

An episode of [Bible Answer Man Podcast with Hank Hanegraaff](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/569236334), 21 Mar 2026, 28 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/70786228/bambof20260321.mp3

On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast, Hank shares on the mathematics of spiritual multiplication; the way Christianity can grow exponentially just by leading one person a year with just 12 evangelists. In less than 30 years, the whole world could be evangelized, and even if the population doubled, it would only take one additional year. Hank also answers the following questions: Peter quotes Joel in Acts 2. When was this prophecy from Joel 2 fulfilled? Christopher - MI (3:40) What are the greater works mentioned in John 14:12? Rick - Oklahoma City, OK (15:13) A friend of mine said that people don’t choose God, God chooses the people. What is your insight on this? Jason - Phoenix, AZ (18:23) Regarding Matthew 16:18, is Peter the rock upon which the Church was built? What is the proper understanding of this verse? Larry - Long Beach, CA (21:22)

## Transcript

[0:07] Speaker 1: From the Christian Research Institute in Charlotte, North Carolina. You
[0:11] Speaker 1: are listening to the best of the Bible answer Man
[0:13] Speaker 1: broadcast with Hank Cantagraph. We're on the air because life
[0:17] Speaker 1: and truth matter. The mission of the Christian Research Institute
[0:22] Speaker 1: is to equip believers to answer life's essential questions soundly
[0:26] Speaker 1: and persuasively, and to give the reason for the hope
[0:29] Speaker 1: that you have with gentleness and respect. For more information,
[0:34] Speaker 1: go online to equip dot org. The following program was
[0:38] Speaker 1: pre recorded and now here's Bible answer Man host Hank Canagraph.
[0:44] Speaker 2: Thank you very much for Randy. Ever, consider the mathematics
[0:47] Speaker 2: of spiritual multiplication. Think about what would happen if every
[0:52] Speaker 2: Christian led just one person to faith in Christ each
[0:58] Speaker 2: and every year. If we began with only twelve committed
[1:02] Speaker 2: Christians today and each of them led one person to
[1:06] Speaker 2: faith in Christ and then discipled that person next year,
[1:11] Speaker 2: there would be twenty four believers. If each of them
[1:15] Speaker 2: in turn led one person to faith in Christ and
[1:17] Speaker 2: disciple that person the third year, there'd be forty eight believers.
[1:24] Speaker 2: And if that process continued, it would take less than
[1:28] Speaker 2: thirty years to evangelize the people alive today. On planet Earth,
[1:35] Speaker 2: and if in the same timeframe the population doubled, it
[1:41] Speaker 2: would take only one additional year. That's the power of
[1:48] Speaker 2: spiritual multiplication. Many people today run from church to church
[1:56] Speaker 2: in search of that ultimate experience, But no experience can
[2:02] Speaker 2: compare with that of the Holy Spirit working through you
[2:07] Speaker 2: in the process of bringing someone to a saving knowledge
[2:12] Speaker 2: of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You want a
[2:15] Speaker 2: real experience, become an equipp believer, ready always to give
[2:24] Speaker 2: an answer, a reason for the hope that lies within you,
[2:27] Speaker 2: with gentleness and with respect. If you do, you will
[2:32] Speaker 2: not might, but will experience the power of the Holy
[2:37] Speaker 2: Spirit working through you redemptively in bringing a lost son
[2:43] Speaker 2: or daughter of Adam into the Kingdom of the Last Atom,
[2:49] Speaker 2: the Second Man, Jesus Christ, into a new heaven and
[2:54] Speaker 2: a new Earth wherein dwells righteousness, into a kingdom that
[2:59] Speaker 2: will ever and a kingdom in which nothing unrighteous will
[3:05] Speaker 2: ever appear, nor will anyone who does what is shameful
[3:09] Speaker 2: or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in
[3:15] Speaker 2: the Lamb's Book of Life. That's why we equip you.
[3:19] Speaker 2: In fact, that's why our website is called equip dot org.
[3:23] Speaker 2: The very materials by which you can be equipped to
[3:26] Speaker 2: always be ready to give an answer, available on the
[3:30] Speaker 2: world Wide Web at equipp dot org. Make sure you
[3:34] Speaker 2: make that your web destination. We'll go right to the
[3:38] Speaker 2: phone lines now, a lot of you hanging on. First up, Christopher,
[3:41] Speaker 2: he's listening on the web in Michigan. Hi Christopher, Hi Hank.
[3:45] Speaker 3: How are you doing today?
[3:46] Speaker 2: I'm doing well. Thank you.
[3:48] Speaker 3: If that's a pleasure to talk to you. I am
[3:51] Speaker 3: a fruit of the ministry of the Christian Research Institute. Well,
[3:54] Speaker 3: you guys have had a huge impact in are huge
[3:57] Speaker 3: reason why I'm active in a church today.
[4:00] Speaker 2: Thank you so much for that testimony.
[4:02] Speaker 3: My question today I read the Book of Joel, and
[4:07] Speaker 3: of course in the second chapter, it jumped out when
[4:11] Speaker 3: Peter referenced the prophecy of Joel being fulfilled in the
[4:15] Speaker 3: Book of Acts in the second chapter, and I was
[4:17] Speaker 3: just curious. I couldn't find anywhere rokofan when the actual
[4:21] Speaker 3: prophecy was fulfilled. Was it actually fully fulfilled when Peter
[4:25] Speaker 3: referred to it, or was it a prophecy for something
[4:28] Speaker 3: else and that was just the ultimate fulfillment of it
[4:30] Speaker 3: when Peter referenced it.
[4:31] Speaker 2: Well, Joel is prophesying, and he is prophesying during the
[4:36] Speaker 2: time that Israel is an exile. The Babylonions have come
[4:40] Speaker 2: in and they have exiled the Jews. They've come in
[4:45] Speaker 2: in a way that Joel likens to the invasion of
[4:49] Speaker 2: an apocalyptic army of locusts, and they've overrun Jerusalem and
[4:55] Speaker 2: they've destroyed the Temple, and now they're in exile. And
[4:57] Speaker 2: Joel's looking forward to a time in which the exile
[5:01] Speaker 2: will end, a time in which Babylon itself will be judged.
[5:06] Speaker 2: And so he looks prophetically forward into the future, not
[5:10] Speaker 2: only from the perspective of a time that Israel will
[5:14] Speaker 2: return out of its exile, but a time in which
[5:18] Speaker 2: the Kingdom of God will be inaugurated and the enemies
[5:24] Speaker 2: of God will be destroyed. Peter looks at what Joel says,
[5:30] Speaker 2: and he uses the words of Joel in Acts chapter two.
[5:36] Speaker 2: In the first Apostolic sermon, I mean, this is the
[5:40] Speaker 2: first big sermon that is preached by an apostle, and
[5:45] Speaker 2: as a result, three thousand people come to faith in Christ.
[5:49] Speaker 2: And he's showing how all of the law in the
[5:52] Speaker 2: prophets are fulfilled in Jesus Christ and the resurrection of
[5:57] Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. And so at the beginning of sermon, he says,
[6:01] Speaker 2: in the last days, God says, I will pour out
[6:04] Speaker 2: my spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
[6:09] Speaker 2: Your men will see visions, Your old men will dream dreams,
[6:14] Speaker 2: even on my servants, both men and women. I will
[6:17] Speaker 2: pour out my spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
[6:21] Speaker 2: And I will show wonders in the heavens above, and
[6:24] Speaker 2: signs on the earth below, smoke and fire and billows
[6:29] Speaker 2: of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness, the
[6:32] Speaker 2: moon to blood before the coming of the great and
[6:36] Speaker 2: glorious Day of the Lord. And everyone who calls in
[6:39] Speaker 2: the name of the Lord will be saved. Well, what's
[6:41] Speaker 2: he talking about. Well, he's talking about what's going to happen.
[6:44] Speaker 2: What's going to happen is the spirit of God is
[6:48] Speaker 2: going to fall on the disciples. The disciples are going
[6:53] Speaker 2: to impact the world. Then you're going to have a
[6:57] Speaker 2: big war that takes place that's consummated with the coming
[7:02] Speaker 2: of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he then uses the
[7:06] Speaker 2: very language that Jesus Christ used in the all of
[7:09] Speaker 2: a discourse, which show what occurs when Jerusalem and the
[7:16] Speaker 2: Temple are destroyed, when the very pretenders are done away with,
[7:25] Speaker 2: and the problem always gets back to the same thing
[7:28] Speaker 2: it was the problem when Jesus was alive. Jesus was
[7:33] Speaker 2: the antetype that fulfills temple priest and sacrifice. So Jesus
[7:39] Speaker 2: the antotype is the temple in their midst. So remember
[7:44] Speaker 2: where you have this incredible scene where Jesus cleanses the
[7:48] Speaker 2: temple and the Jews ask for a sign. What right
[7:53] Speaker 2: do you have to cleanse this temple? And what does
[7:56] Speaker 2: Jesus say, Destroy this temple and I will raise it
[7:59] Speaker 2: up again days. The irony here is you have two
[8:02] Speaker 2: temples standing there. You have a temple that's not built
[8:05] Speaker 2: by human hands, Jesus Christ, and then you have a
[8:07] Speaker 2: temple that is built by human hands. And Jesus is saying,
[8:11] Speaker 2: destroy this temple. I will raise it up again in
[8:15] Speaker 2: three days. Now. First and foremost, he points to his
[8:18] Speaker 2: own resurrection, so he doesn't give them a sign. He
[8:21] Speaker 2: gives them a prophecy. But even beyond that, he is
[8:24] Speaker 2: pointing to something else. He is pointing to a time
[8:27] Speaker 2: in which the temple will be destroyed because the people
[8:32] Speaker 2: did not recognize Messiah in their midst and Peter is
[8:36] Speaker 2: talking about that. He's talking about the time that comes
[8:40] Speaker 2: in which the Gospel will go out, the Kingdom will
[8:42] Speaker 2: be inaugurated, but people will reject the kingdom. They'll continue
[8:46] Speaker 2: with temple sacrifices, and Jesus will then appear in glory
[8:53] Speaker 2: and he uses apocalyptic language then for the judgment that
[8:57] Speaker 2: will fall on the unbelievers and those that want to
[9:00] Speaker 2: continue with temple priests and sacrifice. That's what's actually going
[9:03] Speaker 2: on in the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy.
[9:06] Speaker 3: Okay, A notice also that Peter referred to that being
[9:11] Speaker 3: the last day was their perception of the last day,
[9:16] Speaker 3: like in today's people think of the last days as
[9:19] Speaker 3: future events versus it seemed like he felt like he
[9:24] Speaker 3: was in the last days.
[9:25] Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, And that's exactly the point of what I
[9:27] Speaker 2: have just been talking about. You've just nailed it the
[9:31] Speaker 2: reaction here when the words last days are used by
[9:36] Speaker 2: most people as end of the world. But you have
[9:39] Speaker 2: to look at the context in which Jesus Christ uses
[9:42] Speaker 2: the same language. Jesus has just left the temple, is
[9:45] Speaker 2: walking away his disciples, calls attention to its buildings, and
[9:48] Speaker 2: he says, do you see all these things? I tell
[9:51] Speaker 2: you the truth, not one stone here will be left
[9:53] Speaker 2: on another. Everyone will be thrown down. Well, the disciples
[9:57] Speaker 2: later on catch Jesus in private, and they ask him
[10:02] Speaker 2: when is this going to happen? What will be the
[10:05] Speaker 2: sign of your coming and the end of the age.
[10:09] Speaker 2: They're asking him not about the end of the world,
[10:14] Speaker 2: but they're asking him about the time in which sacrifices
[10:19] Speaker 2: will end, the time in which the Temple will be destroyed.
[10:24] Speaker 2: They have not in their psyche at all a notion
[10:28] Speaker 2: of the end of the world, but rather the very
[10:30] Speaker 2: thing that Jesus Christ is prophesying. He's saying, the Temple
[10:33] Speaker 2: is going to be destroyed. They want to know when.
[10:35] Speaker 2: So the Last Days, in this sense, applied to that
[10:41] Speaker 2: exact same framework. It applies to the time that the
[10:46] Speaker 2: Temple is going to be destroyed, that the age of
[10:49] Speaker 2: sacrifice is going to end, and that the kingdom, which
[10:53] Speaker 2: started small is going to start to fill. The world.
[10:56] Speaker 2: Will be right back with more of your questions. Please
[10:58] Speaker 2: don't touch that dial.
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[15:07] Speaker 1: Now back to the Bible answer Man broadcast and your
[15:10] Speaker 1: host and canagraph.
[15:12] Speaker 2: Hey for a much Randy. Let's go right to the
[15:13] Speaker 2: phone lines. Doctor Rick, Oklahoma, Hi Rick, Hi, Hank. Good.
[15:18] Speaker 2: How are you?
[15:19] Speaker 5: Oh? I'm real good. My question comes from John chapter fourteen,
[15:23] Speaker 5: verse twelve. Yeah. I say to you, he who believes
[15:27] Speaker 5: in me the works that I do, he will also
[15:30] Speaker 5: do also in greater works than these will he do.
[15:34] Speaker 5: What are the greater works?
[15:36] Speaker 2: Well, the apostles would not necessarily feed five thousand physically,
[15:42] Speaker 2: but they would feed thousands spiritually because they were going
[15:46] Speaker 2: to be anointed by the Spirit. And therefore, through the
[15:51] Speaker 2: anointing of the Holy Spirit, you see the salvation of
[15:56] Speaker 2: literally multitudes. I mean, Peter didn't so much as have microphone.
[16:00] Speaker 2: And yet when he presented the first Apostolic sermon in
[16:06] Speaker 2: Acts chapter two, three thousand people stampeded their way to Calvary.
[16:12] Speaker 2: So Christ did not here have in mind greater miracles,
[16:16] Speaker 2: because no one's been able to raise the dead. But
[16:22] Speaker 2: what he has in mind is the resurrection of the
[16:26] Speaker 2: dead to life eternal. The greater miracle is through the
[16:31] Speaker 2: power of the Holy Spirit, his disciples would be able
[16:35] Speaker 2: to feed the spiritual needs of literally hundreds of thousands,
[16:40] Speaker 2: now millions of people. So that they thirst no more,
[16:45] Speaker 2: so that their hunger is satisfied.
[16:48] Speaker 5: So in our day we carry that on in our
[16:51] Speaker 5: individual ministries.
[16:53] Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely right. So the context of John fourteen is
[16:57] Speaker 2: not signs and wonders, but a obedience to the Father
[17:02] Speaker 2: and the greater works are given to us by John
[17:05] Speaker 2: in the fifth chapter. It's salvation from sin and the
[17:10] Speaker 2: resurrection of the dead to eternal life, and all of
[17:13] Speaker 2: us have a part to that. We know that what
[17:17] Speaker 2: we are preaching is true because it has been ratified, sealed, signed,
[17:24] Speaker 2: delivered on the basis of the infallible repository of redemptive revelation,
[17:30] Speaker 2: and the apostles and prophets that gave us that revelation
[17:34] Speaker 2: demonstrated that they were truly of God because of the
[17:39] Speaker 2: miracles that they did. So the word of God is
[17:42] Speaker 2: already authenticated in our midst. Now we can take the
[17:47] Speaker 2: word and feed spiritually the multitudes.
[17:52] Speaker 5: Okay, okay, yeah that makes sense because my whole life,
[17:56] Speaker 5: I've always heard that is healing miracle, that kind of thing,
[18:01] Speaker 5: you know, and I was always confused.
[18:03] Speaker 2: Yeah, it can't possibly be that, because if you look
[18:06] Speaker 2: at John chapter eleven, and this is the same context
[18:11] Speaker 2: Jesus raises someone from the dead, Lazarus, who had been
[18:14] Speaker 2: dead for four days. Where do you see anybody doing that?
[18:18] Speaker 4: Right?
[18:19] Speaker 5: Okay, good, Thank you so much.
[18:21] Speaker 2: You got it. Rick, Thank you so much for your
[18:22] Speaker 2: callback to the phone lines. Next up is Jason. He's
[18:26] Speaker 2: listening in Phoenix, Arizona. Hi, Jason, Hiang.
[18:29] Speaker 6: I'm actually going because a friend of mine and I
[18:32] Speaker 6: were discussing something and it kind of thrown me in
[18:34] Speaker 6: a bit of a tale stands and confusion, and it
[18:37] Speaker 6: basically relates to the sovereignty of God and the way.
[18:42] Speaker 6: And this is a friend of mine who is very
[18:44] Speaker 6: knowledgeable in Christianity. So this is why kind of throwing
[18:47] Speaker 6: me because this is not a mindset I had that
[18:50] Speaker 6: really there is no for you will. He says that
[18:53] Speaker 6: people don't choose God. God chooses the people, and he
[18:57] Speaker 6: referred to the scripture I recall it. It was but basically
[19:01] Speaker 6: saying that you don't choose to follow God, that He
[19:04] Speaker 6: has chosen you. So if you are a Christian, it's
[19:06] Speaker 6: not because you elect to be that. Dan, I wanted
[19:12] Speaker 6: to see what your insight and what some of your
[19:14] Speaker 6: explanations of that might be.
[19:16] Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the difference between those that believe in what's
[19:19] Speaker 2: called compatibilistic freedom or circumstantial freedom and those who believe
[19:25] Speaker 2: in libertarian freedom. Circumstantial freedom is the idea that you
[19:31] Speaker 2: can only be free to exercise your will according to
[19:36] Speaker 2: the way that you have been created. Therefore, if you
[19:40] Speaker 2: are a cow, you obviously have not been created in
[19:44] Speaker 2: such a way that you can fly in the same way,
[19:47] Speaker 2: if you are not elect, you have been created in
[19:50] Speaker 2: such a way that you cannot respond to the Gospel.
[19:53] Speaker 2: So in that viewpoint, the viewpoint of circumstantial freedom, what
[19:59] Speaker 2: happens is God regenerates the elect, and then the elect
[20:06] Speaker 2: can respond to the wooing of the Holy Spirit. In
[20:09] Speaker 2: the libertarian freedom perspective, everyone whosoever will can respond to
[20:17] Speaker 2: the wooing of the Holy Spirit. So you have the
[20:20] Speaker 2: ability to act or the ability to act otherwise. In
[20:23] Speaker 2: the first viewpoint, God is, for all intents and purposes,
[20:28] Speaker 2: the author of evil, and the second viewpoint, God creates
[20:32] Speaker 2: the potential for evil, but people actualize that evil through
[20:38] Speaker 2: their choices. So these are two different theological paradigms, and
[20:43] Speaker 2: Christians debate them vigorously. We actually did a debate in
[20:47] Speaker 2: the Christian Research Journal, where we had a person that
[20:51] Speaker 2: believes in compatibilistic freedom debating someone who believes libertarian freedom.
[20:57] Speaker 2: The debate is a vigorous debate. You got real two
[21:00] Speaker 2: excellent thinkers on both sides of the subject. And in
[21:05] Speaker 2: grampling with that article, you actually end up grappling with
[21:09] Speaker 2: the biblical text because it pushes you back to the
[21:12] Speaker 2: pages of scripture, and then you can test all things
[21:16] Speaker 2: hold fast to that which is good. If you want
[21:18] Speaker 2: to hang on, we can tell you how to get
[21:19] Speaker 2: a hold of that article or send it out to
[21:21] Speaker 2: you back to our phone callers. Next up is Larry
[21:24] Speaker 2: listening in Long Beach, California. Hi, Larry, Hey, how you
[21:28] Speaker 2: doing good? Thank you?
[21:29] Speaker 3: How are you good?
[21:30] Speaker 7: Enjoy your program's been blissed from listening to it for
[21:34] Speaker 7: a long time. I have a question about I think
[21:37] Speaker 7: it's in Matthew sixteen eighteen. I want to say Peter.
[21:42] Speaker 7: I think Christ told him, Peter, you are to rock
[21:45] Speaker 7: up on this rock. I will build build my church.
[21:48] Speaker 7: I'm trying to get the proper translation for that. Peter's
[21:54] Speaker 7: not called is he actually being called? Is we been
[21:58] Speaker 7: in the church on Peter, or or in the church
[22:01] Speaker 7: or in Christ, or is Peter considered the rock or
[22:04] Speaker 7: a rock? How would I properly translate that?
[22:07] Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I think here context becomes very significant. And
[22:12] Speaker 2: in context, Jesus came to the region of Cesarea Philippi,
[22:17] Speaker 2: and he asked his disciples, who do people say the
[22:22] Speaker 2: son of Man is? And then they replied to Jesus,
[22:26] Speaker 2: they say, well, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah,
[22:31] Speaker 2: and still others say Jeremiah or one of the prophets.
[22:34] Speaker 2: And then Jesus asked this question, but what about you?
[22:40] Speaker 2: Who do you say? I am? And Simon Peter answers.
[22:45] Speaker 2: He says, you are the Christ, the son of the
[22:51] Speaker 2: Living God. And Jesus replies, blessed are you, Simon, son
[22:57] Speaker 2: of Jonah. For this was not revealed to you by man,
[23:02] Speaker 2: but by my Father in Heaven. And I tell you
[23:06] Speaker 2: that you are Peter. And on this rock I will
[23:10] Speaker 2: build my church and the gates of Hades will not
[23:13] Speaker 2: overcome it. Well, what is the rock? The rock? In
[23:18] Speaker 2: context is the confession of Simon Peter you are the Christ,
[23:25] Speaker 2: the Son of the Living God. And that is operative
[23:29] Speaker 2: as the phrase in the passage, because it is an
[23:33] Speaker 2: insightful passage that comes from God to man, and it
[23:37] Speaker 2: is something applicable to us today as well as the
[23:42] Speaker 2: foundation for the church, because many people can say I
[23:46] Speaker 2: believe in Jesus Christ. But the question is who is
[23:50] Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. Is he just an avatar? Is he just
[23:55] Speaker 2: the spirit brother of Lucifer? Is he just a God?
[24:00] Speaker 2: Or is it the one who's spoke in the universe
[24:02] Speaker 2: leaft into existence? And as Peter correctly answered, you are
[24:09] Speaker 2: the Christ, the son of the Living God, and that
[24:12] Speaker 2: is the rock on which the Church of Jesus Christ
[24:16] Speaker 2: is established. A correct understanding of who Jesus Christ is.
[24:22] Speaker 7: Okay, so heck are we It would be technically wrong
[24:26] Speaker 7: to say that the church is being built on me
[24:28] Speaker 7: and you as Christians? It would be incorrect, right Or
[24:33] Speaker 7: can we technically say we are a rock at the church?
[24:37] Speaker 7: Or or do we have any role in it? Does
[24:38] Speaker 7: Peter have any role in any part?
[24:41] Speaker 6: Well?
[24:41] Speaker 2: That's interesting as well, because if you look at what
[24:44] Speaker 2: Peter himself says about that later on, there is an
[24:47] Speaker 2: interesting twist that takes place, and that twist has to
[24:51] Speaker 2: do with the fact that Jesus Christ is the rock.
[24:58] Speaker 2: Jesus Christ is the head, but we are the body.
[25:04] Speaker 2: And the metaphor is used by Peter that in essence
[25:08] Speaker 2: we are stones. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone or the rock,
[25:15] Speaker 2: but we are stones in the temple of God. So
[25:19] Speaker 2: we are living stones that together make up a temple. Well,
[25:24] Speaker 2: Jesus is used in scripture is the temple, right, he
[25:28] Speaker 2: is the living temple, not a temple built by human hands.
[25:32] Speaker 2: But we also are the temple of God, so we're
[25:35] Speaker 2: part of that building where stones in the architecture of God.
[25:40] Speaker 2: So that metaphor is used as well. But Christ ultimately
[25:42] Speaker 2: is the rock, and we are part of Christ as
[25:47] Speaker 2: stones in the temple of God.
[25:50] Speaker 7: Okay, all right, thank you.
[25:52] Speaker 4: Hey, you got it.
[25:52] Speaker 2: Appreciate your call. I am out of time for this
[25:55] Speaker 2: edition of the Bible answer Man Broadcast. Do remember the
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