Hank Unplugged: Essential Christian Conversations

Hank Hanegraaff, the host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast and the Hank Unplugged podcast, reads an insightful article that captures the very issues he too thinks about when passing through an airline terminal. The article is by Spencer Klavan, “Life in the Airline Terminal,” The American Mind (September 30, 2021), https://americanmind.org/salvo/life-in-the-airline-terminal/.

Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute and host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast, reacts to an article in USA Today titled, “Faith Guided Our Decision on 2 Abortions,” by Elon University religious studies professor and Presbyterian minister Rebecca Todd Peters. The author says “loudly and clearly that abortion can be a moral good” and that she aborted two of her children not despite, but because of, her “Christian identity and faith.” She writes, “people of faith need to shout from the rooftops” the message that “you shouldn’t have a baby just because you are pregnant.” According to Peters, killing a pre-born child can be a “morally responsible decision” if, for example, having a child would “interrupt one’s education or career.” Ultimately, she contends, “we need more Christians to stand up and testify that abortion can be a morally good decision.” Lord Jesus, help us to stand against, and not fall for, false and seductive rhetoric emanating from pulpits and lecterns throughout the land.

Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute and host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast, reflects on the tension and debate over Christopher Columbus. Think of last year’s carnage in Portland on “Indigenous Peoples’ Day of Rage.” Or the city of Philadelphia placing a plywood box over a Columbus statue—which has remained covered beyond Columbus Day 2021. Now President Biden has issued the first presidential proclamation of “Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” attempting to disassociate the federal holiday from Columbus. What could possibly motivate American citizens today, supposed exemplars of social justice, to behave with such wanton recklessness in a supposed era of wokeness and progressive values? Could it be that they attack Columbus because of their hatred of Christianity? Anger over Columbus’ intention to spread the message of Christ to those he encountered in the new world? Or the deeply held Christian convictions prominently displayed in Columbus’ documents and diaries? The common (false) narrative that Columbus was a nefarious character—“a ruthless, money-grubbing, genocidal maniac, who severed hands, raped women, and who enslaved gentle people to satisfy a white supremacist lust for gold and glory”—is arguably tracible to the pontifications of a man named Howard Zinn. Read about this in a remarkable book by Dr. Mary Grabar, Debunking Howard Zinn: Exposing the Fake History That Turned a Generation against America [[https://www.equip.org/product/cri-resource-cri2102ea/]].

Hank Hanegraaff is joined by Neil Thomas to discuss his book Taking Leave of Darwin: A Longtime Agnostic Discovers the Case for Design. Neil Thomas was a committed Darwinist and agnostic — until an investigation of evolutionary theory led him to a startling conclusion: “I had been conned!” As he studied the work of Darwin’s defenders, he found himself encountering tactics eerily similar to the methods of political brainwashing he had studied as a scholar. Thomas felt impelled to write a book as a sort of warning call to humanity: “Beware! You have been fooled!” For more information on receiving Taking Leave of Darwin: A Longtime Agnostic Discovers the Case for Design for your partnering gift click here. https://www.equip.org/product/cri-resource-cri2110hup/Topics discussed include: What led Neil Thomas to question his acceptance of Darwinian evolution? (7:45); the wide-ranging and significant impact of the Darwinian paradigm (10:15); scientific bias against deism and towards materialism (14:00); how did Darwin gain acceptance of his theories? (16:10); the false antagonism between religion and science—naturalism vs. the miraculous (18:50); was Darwin a fundamentalist? (23:40); the fossil record and the Darwinian paradigm (28:20); Darwinian delusions (30:40); the 1953 Miller-Urey experiment (33:30); the rising popularity of Panspermia (37:45); the unfair accusations of pseudoscience attached to the work of Intelligent Design advocates (40:40); Darwin, Chomsky and how linguistics impact evolutionary theory (44:00); the complexity of the human brain (47:20); how consciousness convinced Alfred Russel Wallace to disagree with Darwinism (50:55); racism, sexism and eugenics as ramifications of social-Darwinism (54:45); materialistic magic in the Darwinian paradigm postulating that something can come from nothing (1:01:00); the privileged planet (1:05:25); how do you explain the rising popularity of the multiverse theory? (1:09:00); what is the mystery of mysteries? (1:13:30); the humility of Einstein as opposed to the hubris of many academic elites (1:16:45); the limits of materialistic explanations (1:19:00); the great historical irony of many post-enlightenment thinkers today (1:22:15); does Intelligent Design make more sense than materialism in an age of scientific enlightenment? (1:23:45). Listen to Hank’s podcast and follow Hank off the grid where he is joined by some of the brightest minds discussing topics you care about. Get equipped to be a cultural change agent.Archived episodes are on our Website and available at the additional channels listed below.You can help spread the word about Hank Unplugged by giving us a rating and review from the other channels we are listed on.

Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute and host of the 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘈𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘔𝘢𝘯 broadcast, comments on an article in USA Today by Deena Yellin, entitled “Millions Giving up Organized Religion—America’s Fast-Growing Movement: The ‘Nones’” (October 4, 2021). ‘Nones’ have no religious affiliation. Yellin explains that a “sea change” is taking place in our culture. Something is “replacing organized religion.” This “hard-to-define” something “can manifest as a devotion to nature, meditation, yoga or political activism, among other things.” According to polls, Nones—“as many as 70 million American adults”—“still believe in a higher power, or even the biblical God—but on their own terms.” The truth, however, is that Church is never optional. What is needed is to find the mystery that can be found nowhere other than in Christ’s Church, because the Church is the sphere within which union with the one true and living God in Christ is accomplished. It is through the Church that God’s saving power is mediated to the whole of humanity. While the article talks about lone-ranger, individualized spirituality, Christianity knows nothing of the sort. The Church is the reincarnation of Eden. The place in which we may access the Tree of Life replete with its eucharistic bounty. It’s in the Church that we receive the graces that transform us and satisfy our deepest needs, and such cannot be accomplished in isolation—but only within the community of the body of Christ.

Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute and host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast, shares another note of deep and abiding encouragement to us all from his sister Jobje, who is an astonishing example of faithfulness in the midst of suffering. From her chemo chair, she explains that this has been an Elijah week for her, with moments on Mt. Carmel as well as in the dark cave. “Why is it,” she pleads, “I cannot trust my Savior more, and I shoulder the doubting Thomas mantle?” And in the same breath, she reiterates her gratefulness that God in His mercy has given her “another two months extension of life.” “Amazing,” says Jobje, “how my life is now measured in small increments, not by years or by a half a year. His continued love for me amazes me! I know the day will come,” she continues, “when the chemo is no longer effective. Will I then still be able to give grateful thanks to a merciful Savior, to yield uncomplainingly, to mold myself slowly into His sovereign will and joyfully accept the closing of my earthly life? But ahh, the glorious knowledge that He has redeemed me and will Shepherd me personally by His staff, from the musty, deep, disappointing hollow black caves of this life into my eternal Home, a forever bright victorious Mt. Carmel! I do look forward to that moment!” Having walked with the Lord throughout her life, Jobje is now, at a precarious moment, able to rejoice in the midst of suffering. What an example to us to build our faith in our Lord through the spiritual disciplines so that when we too come to a point when we can see the end of our lives, we will do so in joy and hope and peace in Christ Jesus.

Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute and host of the Hank Unplugged podcast, shares an article in the Wall Street Journal by Dr. Monica Gandhi, “Covid will Soon Be Endemic, Thank Goodness.” Dr. Gandhi says that “a disease becomes endemic when it is manageable” yet “is unlikely to be eliminated because of the pathogen’s inherent properties.” Dr. Gandhi reports that “although SARS-CoV-2 has proved unpredictable, no virus in history has ever continued to evolve to higher pathogenicity.” In her view, “widespread immunity, vaccinated and natural, will bring a full return to normal.” Jesus is Lord.

Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute and host of the Hank Unplugged podcast, reflects on recent interaction between Senator Rand Paul and Xavier Becerra, President Biden’s Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. As Sen. Paul points out in the interchange, Sec. Becerra dubbed him, Jonathan Isaac (who plays for the Orlando Magic), and some hundred million Americans who have natural immunity against COVID-19—“flat Earthers.” Reality is that Sen. Paul, Isaac, and the millions of Americans who have looked at the science and determined that antibodies resulting from having contracted COVID-19 produce significant immunity (as is the case with measles and smallpox) are anything but obscurantists lacking mental acumen and reasoning skills. To call someone a “flat Earther” is no small slight. Andrew Dickson White, founder of Cornell University, once did the same. He decried what he called the regrettable reality that two hundred years after Ferdinand Magellan had empirically proved that the Earth was round, Christian fundamentalists persisted in perpetuating flat-Earth mythology. Like Sec. Becerra, it was White’s contention that people like Sen. Paul and Isaac were unable or unwilling to consider the facts. Thus, they must be crushed under the full weight of government mandates and penalties, until they cry uncle (Uncle Sam). What Sec. Becerra must surely know, however, is that his use of the flat-Earth moniker is pure propaganda! Columbus, of course, knew full well that unanimous scholarly opinion from Augustine to Aquinas pronounced the Earth spherical. And far from being flat Earthers, as Sec. Becerra recklessly demeans them, Sen. Paul, Isaac, and millions of other Americans are well aware of the reality that a lunar eclipse is not produced by a flat Earth. It is high time that name calling is replaced by a civil, reason- and science-based national discussion on whether natural immunity is indeed as good or better than present vaccines. Or, for that matter, whether the combination of natural immunity and vaccine immunity surpasses one or the other or both.

Hank Hanegraaff, host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast and the Hank Unplugged podcast, decries the recent passing of the deceptively named Women’s Health Protection Act (H. R. 3755) in the U. S. House of Representatives. This horrendous piece of legislation would mandate in federal law virtually unfettered access to abortion, including sex selection abortion and the abortion of pre-born children with proclivities to Down Syndrome, allowing for abortions up to the very moment of birth. H. R. 3755 is perhaps the most draconian, pro-death legislation in the history of humanity. And then there is the language crisis that threatens to undo Western civilization. The bill is not specifically a “Women’s” Health Protection Act. Rather, it is “intended to protect all people with the capacity for pregnancy.” The language has shifted from women’s health to the health of “birthing people” — “cis-gender women, transgender men, non-binary individuals, those who identify with a different gender, and others.” Pregnancy is no longer the province of biological women. And this is now the perspective of the Department of Justice, CDC, and the White House. It is not enough to open our southern border to the unvetted and unvaccinated but we’re now using language to redefine the borders of human sexuality. With no objective reference points, societal norms reduce to mere matters of subjective preference.

Hank Hanegraaff, the host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast and the Hank Unplugged podcast, reacts to a New York Post article reporting on the claims of the beheading of two young boys and that the Taliban have been killing off Christians with alarming speed. This should not come as a surprise. Sharia is rooted in the unalterable words of Allah and thus embodies the will of God for every aspect of society — past, present, future. Sharia is state, state is sharia, and sharia mandates proactive and perpetual war against Jews and Christians. This is the consensus of Muslim jurisprudence, which in concert with the will of Allah, mandates war as a “religious duty, because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and (the obligation to) convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion or by force” (Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah). Certainly, many Muslims are peaceful and tolerant; however, the history of Islam demonstrates conclusively that Islam is not a peaceful and tolerant religion. There is a collapse of clear thinking about Islam in the West, while thousands from Afghanistan are now entering the United States unvetted — and to suggest that terrorists are embedded among them is hardly unwarranted. Our porous borders expose the West to the same kind of terror that Afghanistan is presently experiencing.