'Bible Answer Man' Shares Responses to Most Popular Questions
by Allie Martin
April 13, 2004
(AgapePress) - A noted Christian radio personality is trying to help believers become better equipped when it comes to biblical truth, and to have a better understanding of God's Word and its relevance for today.Hank Hanegraaff is host of the popular live radio call-in show Bible Answer Man as well as president and chairman of the Christian Research Institute International (CRI), which is based in Southern California. He has authored several best-selling books, including The Prayer of Jesus and Resurrection, which won the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association's 2001 Gold Medallion for excellence in Christian literature.
Hanegraaff's latest book, The Bible Answer Book, covers 80 of the top questions he has received on his radio program. The CRI president says one of the most popular questions concerns the practice of Christians becoming "slain in the spirit" -- which he says cannot be found anywhere in the ministry of Jesus Christ or any of the apostles.
"In fact, if you listen to the apostles, they will tell you [as in 1 Peter 5:8] to be ... 'alert and sober-minded because your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he might devour,'" Hanegraaff says. "So we are to be alert -- not to be in an altered state of consciousness."
The author says people who are in an altered state of consciousness become "hyper-suggestible" and are "willing to believe virtually anything that enters [their] mind, no matter how mundane or outlandish."
The book also tackles the issue of God's perspective on wealth -- which, according to Hanegraaff, involves far more than just money.
"It's not what you have or what I have that's the real issue. It is what we do with what we have," he says. "And it is not just our treasure; it's also our time and our talent.
"We will give an account for what we did with what God gave to us. But ultimately, Jesus, Paul, and the rest of the apostles came to show us that our gaze should not be on mean, earthly vanities, but we ought to be able to elevate our gaze to eternal verities."
Hanegraaff has hosted Bible Answer Man for 15 years and boasts an audience of more than six million people.
