Hank Unplugged: Essential Christian Conversations

Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute and host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast, responds to a recent tweet and video by Benny Hinn. According to Hinn, the Lord spoke to him, saying he needs to talk to his audience about the great catching up. And that his teaching about the rapture is timely because this event is nearly upon us. Popularized by John Nelson Darby in the nineteenth century, the pre-tribulational rapture theory contends that God has two distinct people and two distinct plans for their two distinct destinies. The church will be raptured seven years prior to the second coming of Christ, and Jews will suffer tribulation. Beginning with Darby, rapture theorists held that, due to the murder of Messiah, Jews were in for a time of unprecedented suffering referred to as the “Great Tribulation.” Multiplied millions today hold firmly to this belief. But is it biblical? Holy Tradition, including Scripture, knows nothing of a rapture independent of the bodily appearing of Christ. For further study, see Hank’s books The Complete Bible Answer Book—Collector’s Edition, Revised and Updated https://www.equip.org/donate/ and The Apocalypse Code: Find Out What the Bible Really Says about the End Times and Why It Matters Today https://www.equip.org/donate/

Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute and host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast, expresses angst about what is going on in the world. The West is at war with God. This war embodies the dismantling of humanity. We are in the midst of redefining what is means to be human. In the beginning, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27 ESV). In redefining the biological realities of “male” and “female,” we are destroying the very body of Christ. The unalterable reality that God created “male and female” is now routinely regaled in the West as transphobic. Sex-specific designations such as “woman,” “female,” and “mother,” have now been neutered by linguistic absurdities like “pregnant, lactating, and post-partum individuals.” Even our newest female addition to the U.S. Supreme Court seems at a loss to define what the word “woman” means. Adding to the confused cultural conundrum, the “B” in LGBTQ+ is quite evidently at odds with the “T.” Bisexual (B) implies two options, while transgender (T) entails a dizzying array of gender identities devoid of common sense or biological reality. And even that merely scratches the surface of apostate Western woke wisdom. Adding insult to injury, multitudes of young people have been effectively reduced to generational lab rats subject to an unholy triad of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and irreversible surgical savageries. Right valuations of personhood build the church. Wrong ideas and perceptions destroy the body of Christ. Only in a Christian worldview does one see the perfect synergy of male and female—of Theanthropos as the Perfect Man, and of Theotokos as the perfect woman, and of God as the Heavenly Father, and of the church as the Mother that nourishes via the sacraments. Little wonder then that the devil is seeking to destroy the church, as woke clergy are aiding the prince of the power of the air in that very quest. For further study, see the upcoming issue of the Christian Research Journal, vol. 45, no. 2/3 (2022)—subscribe at https://www.equip.org/product/crj-subscription/ For more information, visit www.equip.org

“Solo Scriptura” — not sola Scriptura — is a disease of rampant innovation and a failure to respect Holy Tradition. Blaise Pascal speaking in the seventeenth century might just as well have been talking about the twenty-first: “Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.” As such, Hank Hanegraaff has dedicated this special edition of the Hank Unplugged podcast to discuss the imprudence of “solo Scriptura” with the sincere hope that in place of “solo Scriptura,” incessant innovation, and disregard for the Holy Traditions of the Church, the body of Christ may again return to “what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all” (St. Vincent of Lérins). Protopresbyter George Florovsky explained that Holy Tradition is neither “an independent instance, nor a complementary source of faith. Ecclesiastical understanding could not add anything to Scripture. But it was the only means to ascertain and to disclose the true meaning of Scripture. Tradition was, in fact, the authentic interpretation of Scripture. And in this sense, it was coextensive with Scripture. Tradition was actually Scripture rightly understood.” (Attribution to Florovsky was inadvertently left out of Hank’s quotation in the recording.) For bibliographical data and documentation of sources, see Hank’s From the President column, in the forthcoming (Fall 2022), “The Imprudence of ‘Solo Scriptura,’” in Christian Research Journal, vol. 45, no. 02/03 (2022).To receive this issue when it’s released please subscribe to the Christian Research Journal by clicking here. https://www.equip.org/product/crj-subscription/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.

What is the Secret? Everyone wants to know the secret to life so when Rhonda Byrne claimed to find it the entire world took notice. While it is hard to believe that the culture has fallen for Byrne’s claims in The Secret it is unfathomable that so many Christians have come to believe its dubious declarations about the law of attraction—most evident in the word of faith movement. On this edition of Hank Unplugged, Hank discusses why the law of attraction is wrong and how Christians should be equipped to dispute this dangerous worldview.For more on the topic, be sure to check out Hank’s updated article “What is the Secret?” in the most recent edition of the Christian Research Journal. https://www.equip.org/christian-research-journal/the-battle-for-the-historical-adam-and-eve-contents-back-issue/Other related articles:What is the Secret? by Hank Hanegraaff a previous version https://www.equip.org/article/what-is-the-secret/The Secret Revealed by Robert Velarde https://www.equip.org/article/the-secret-revealed/Postmodern Realities Episode 286 Trusting Jesus in a Universe that Doesn’t Have Your Back: A Christian Looks at Manifesting, which discusses similar topics and discusses Anne Kennedy article the most recent edition of the Christian Research Journal on this topic. https://www.equip.org/pmr-podcast/episode-286-trusting-jesus-in-a-universe-that-doesnt-have-your-back-a-christian-looks-at-manifesting/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, is reading a new book by Ryan T. Anderson and Alexandra DeSanctis titled, Tearing Us Apart: How Abortion Harms Everything and Solves Nothing. Pro-abortion operatives speak loudly and profanely about reproductive freedom, bodily autonomy, the right to choose, and so forth. Few seem willing to speak about the brutal business of Planned Parenthood or the painful killing of innocent human beings or even consider the profoundly inherent virtue of human life. Ignorance of basic biology in our culture is beyond chilling. And government by and large has abandoned its responsibility to secure the right to life—a right upon which all other rights depend. What is particularly stunning is that surgical abortion is rapidly being supplanted by the horror of chemical abortion, which now accounts for some 50 percent of all abortions in the U.S. The numbers are staggering—some 300,000 to 450,000 chemical abortions per year. One pill cuts off nutrients to the developing child, so she gradually dies; another induces early labor to expel the child from the womb. And of course, the CDC is perfectly fine with all this. Moreover, there is a growing body of evidence pointing to the reality that women who have abortions not only kill innocent human beings but are at greater risk for developing breast cancer. See Ryan T. Anderson and Alexandra DeSanctis, Tearing Us Apart: How Abortion Harms Everything and Solves Nothing (Regnery, 2022). [[add link to CRI donation page for this book if possible]]

In the eyes of many, the modern church in America has become complacent and shallow—more concerned with conforming the church to the culture than the culture to the church. Today’s guest, Matthew Gallatin, joins Hank Hanegraaff to discuss his journey of faith in pursuit of the authentic experience that would quench his thirst for God in a land of shallow wells. To learn more about receiving the resource, Thirsting For God in a Land of Shallow Wells, for your partnering gift, please click here. https://www.equip.org/product/cri-resource-thirsting-for-god-in-a-land-of-shallow-wells/ Topics discussed include: Thirsting for God in a Land of Shallow Wells (2:00); experiencing Seventh-day Adventism (4:45); how do Seventh-day Adventists rationalize the failed prophesies of Ellen G. White? (12:30); do you know what you believe? (13:50); is there any such thing as a non-denominational church? (18:10); how does Holy Tradition help Christians to rightly understand the Bible and their faith? (25:45); does everyone has a thirst for God? (33:00); is there any place for repetition and ritual in the Christian faith? (36:25); should our daily prayers be spontaneous or formal? (42:00); is it biblical to pray to Mary and other Saints of the Church? (44:20); recognizing the reality and importance of the Theotokos—Mary the Mother of God—to the Christian faith (47:35); viewing iconography as a spiritual reality (53:30); a form of martyrdom—when following the truth leads to losing your livelihood and loved ones (56:00); the correlation between social changes in the culture and in the church (1:08:15); the power of the sign of the cross and other transformational church practices (1:12:10); should we baptize infants? (1:15:45); the demanding nature of the Orthodox life as preparation for eternity (1:22:00). 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, reflects on the Christian Reformed Church’s (CRC) charge to uphold biblical sexuality. An article by Jonathan Cohn at Huffpost, “An Elite Christian College Has Become the Latest Battleground in America’s Culture Wars,” points out that the CRC sees the Bible as infallible and thus renders same-sex marriage incompatible with Christian orthodoxy. The fly in the ointment is Joseph Kuilema, a Calvin University professor of sociology (and teacher of the year in 2019) who considers the biblical text outdated and incompatible with his own great Awokening. As such, he dogmatically contends that the CRC should support his rendering of the biblical text. Kuilema officiated over the wedding of a lesbian couple and, principally as a result, was terminated from Calvin University. Kuilema, who is Reformed and always reforming based on his own authoritative interpretation of Scripture, not only has taken it upon himself to redefine marriage but cavalierly negates the words of God in human flesh who rebuked the Pharisees of His day with the words, “Have you not read, that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female”—and did so for the very purpose of joining them together as one flesh (Matthew 19:4). Therefore, says Saint Paul, “a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh” (Ephesians 5:31). Saint Paul also explicitly states that lesbian women exchange natural relations for relations that are contrary to nature itself—the delusional attempt to merge sexual same’s (see Romans 1:26). Marriage has at all times and in all societies been a relationship between men and women, with an end toward bearing and rearing children. The marriage of one man and one woman is not only Scriptural, it is distinctly sacramental. Indeed, marriage is about the gospel! Emblematic of the union of Christ and His church. Yet in full view of the mystery of marriage—replete with its parabolic profundity in Christ and the church, its potential for procreating children in the image and likeness of God, and its promise of psychophysical pleasure—Professor Kuilema gratuitously reimagines the Scripture in the image of the culture. Will the CRC and Calvin hold on to the sanctity of marriage? Time will tell. See Jonathan Cohn, “An Elite Christian College Has Become the Latest Battleground in America’s Culture Wars,” Huffpost, June 19, 2022, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/calvin-university-professor-joe-kuilema-gay-marriage-lgbtq_n_62aca02de4b06169ca988191; Rod Dreher, “Saving Calvin,” The American Conservative, June 20, 2022, https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/saving-calvin-university-lgbt-kristin-du-mez/.

Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute and host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast, was struck by a headline this morning, “America's Belief in God Hits New Low.” And this as church attendance falls precipitously. Vice President Kamala Harris pontificates that Christians can support abortion without transgressing Christian principles. She’s either ignorant or incorrigibly dishonest. And the current administration neither condemns nor prohibits demonstrations against U. S. Supreme Court Justices and their families, as President Biden gleefully anticipates a mini-revolution if states regain the right to vote on abortion once again. It’s one thing to curse the darkness—it’s another to build a lighthouse in the midst of the gathering storm. The broader culture is in the midst of a “great awokening”—but all of that can change by another Great Awakening in the church. The power of the Holy Spirit can animate the Christian church such that it no longer continues to decline but increases and becomes again a leavening force in the culture. It happened in the first century—it can happen again in the twenty-first. But that means you as a follower of Christ must recognize the incredible opportunity before you of making a difference for time and for eternity. See Erin Doherty, “America's Belief in God Hits New Low,” Axios, June 17, 2022, https://www.axios.com/2022/06/17/belief-god-low-gallup-poll; Leif Le Mahieu, “Survey Shows Fewer Americans Believe In God Than Ever Before,” Daily Wire, June 18, 2022, https://www.dailywire.com/news/survey-shows-fewer-americans-believe-in-god-than-ever-before; Sarah Arnold, “Kamala Harris Insists Abortion Has Nothing to Do With Religious Beliefs,” Townhall, June 18, 2022, https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2022/06/18/kamala-harris-says-support-for-abortion-does-not-require-people-to-abandon-their-faith-n2608954.

Ignatius of Antioch said that "Christianity is greatest when it is hated by the world." Facing an overwhelmingly dark and hostile culture, Rome's early Christians took the steps necessary to transform it—laying the foundation for a Judeo-Christian culture that changed civilization for centuries to come. As we watch Western Civilization crumble, learning from the struggles and lessons of early Christians affords us hope that, by imitating their example, we may do the same for our culture today. Hank Hanegraaff is joined by James Papandrea, co-author of How Christianity Saved Civilization…And Must Do So Again, to discuss how Christianity might, once again, transform our dark and hostile culture. For information on how to receive, How Christianity Saved Civilization—–And Must Do So Again, for your partnering gift, please click here. https://www.equip.org/product/cri-resource-how-christianity-saved-civilization-and-must-do-so-again//Topics discussed include: The only acceptable intolerance in our society (6:50); should the church change? (8:40); are we smarter than our ancestors? the brilliance of the Church Fathers (11:15); the Bible and Holy Tradition (14:25); why were Christians so hated in the early Roman Empire? (16:50); Christianity, Constantine and the history of religious freedom (22:00); is it self-evident that all people are created equal? (28:35); perpetuation as opposed to innovation (30:35); how involved should Christians be in the community? (32:45); the true significance of the Trinity to the world (35:00); is there a difference between abortion and infanticide? (37:35); the parallels between widows, orphans and the Eucharist (40:50); envisioning a world without slavery (44:30); the impact that Christianity had on the importance of children and family (45:35); how Christianity revolutionized the way we look at work (47:35); should Christians give to those that beg? (49:45); why the idea that the Church is for everyone was radical (54:00); how can forgiveness revolutionize the world? (1:01:50); caring for the poor is not optional for Christians (1:04:00); why is the Christian view of death revolutionary? (1:06:45); how do we measure human value? (1:11:50); the purpose of hierarchy in the Church (1:13:55); how can the Church change the world again? (1:18:45); should Christians isolate themselves from society? (1:22:10); technology should never replace community—especially in the Church (1:24:10); we must speak up and defend the Church (1:26:00); Christians should be joyful (1:27:20); how can Christians—Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox—best embrace unity to save civilization? (1:28:25). 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, reflects on reactions to the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. Calla Hales, at the Preferred Women’s Health Center, says, “Let all this rage radicalize you.” This rage we have already been seeing carried out in front of the homes of Justices of the Supreme Court. In the midst of all of this, we must remember that abortion remains legal in many states, including North Carolina. The hysteria in the wake of the possibility that the Court’s ruling could stop the painful killing of innocent human beings at just 65 million over nearly 50 years is palpable. This hysteria over what Mother Teresa once said was a “scourge” (referring to Roe v. Wade) that “deformed a great nation.” Hear people now shouting in the streets about women’s rights and reproductive freedom, bodily autonomy and the right to choose—but choose what? Choose to thwart the dignity and worth of pre-born children. To exacerbate inequality and perpetuate racial division. It’s well known that vast numbers of Blacks and Hispanics are being exterminated via abortion. So, many are upset that we may not have the opportunity to continue corrupting our medical system. Nothing in our U. S. Constitution has ever promoted lethal violence in the wombs of mothers. But with all of the rage—the rage that is supposed to radicalize the painful killing of innocent human beings—the reality is that abortion will continue on and this battle is not over. Those who value all human beings as bearers of the image of God must continue to stand for truth. Not with the rhetoric of pro-abortion advocates, but rather with reason, respect, and the continuous propagation of truth communicated in love—the truth that every human being has worth.