1/9/2021 - A Conversation with Andrew Hronich

TNG Radio, where today's culture and timeless truths come together.

It's reasoned relevant content apologetics, worldview, and answers to the questions that you need to know. From Alex McFarland Ministries, this is Truth for a New Generation Radio. And now the man who preached in 50 states in 50 days, speaker, writer, and advocate for Christian apologetics, Dr. Alex McFarland. In John chapter 20, Jesus has risen and he appears to his disciples. And he says to his disciples, peace be to you. And he shows them the wounds in his hands and in his side. And then he gives them the Holy Spirit.

He breathes on them. And he says, as the Father has sent me, so I send you. And with that, I welcome you to today's edition of Truth for a New Generation. And I'm so excited, folks.

This is a great show today. And we're talking with a dear friend and a colleague, a young man that God's hand is on his life in a great way. And I can't wait for you to meet this friend and colleague in the Gospel. But first, let me talk a little bit about John 20.

You know, this is a new year. And I think one of the sentiments that I'm hearing in the hearts of a lot of people as we talk about a new year is seeing God do new things and seeking a move of God in our culture. The Lord knows our nation so desperately needs the Gospel. And so as you listen to this broadcast, and as we once again go back to the simple truth of the Gospel, being born again, experiencing a relationship with the living risen Savior, and then being used by God, being sent, being commissioned, and being a vessel in the hand of the Lord, let's again believe God for this wonderful reality that the risen Jesus, he has always worked through his church. He's always worked through individuals that are yielded to him. And my dear friend, as you hear this broadcast, I want you to believe that Jesus wants to work through you.

He does. The tool in the hand of God to reach somebody and to result in a life being changed, that useful instrument in God's hand can be you. And Jesus appears to his disciples in John 20.

And think about this. There's the atonement, there's the resurrection, there's Pentecost, there's the Great Commission. All in this microcosm of the church, Jesus appears, he has paid for our sins, there are the wounds in his hands, in his side, John 20-20. That's the atonement. He shed his blood on the cross to wash our sins away. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord, that Jesus is risen. And in verse 21, Jesus says, Peace be with you, as the Father has sent me, I'm sending you, and he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. You'll recall at Pentecost the Holy Spirit came, and Peter preached the Gospel, multitudes were saved, and they were sent forth, and here you and I are.

Do you know, here in 2021, if you're a Christian, and you're walking with the Lord, and you're serving the Lord, and you're a representative of the Lord, you are a link in a chain that goes all the way back to Pentecost and even the upper room and the empty tomb. And so be excited. These are wonderful times to be alive. This is not a time to wring our hands in despair and to be blue and just to be pessimistic.

No. Believe it, folks. God is on his throne, and the Gospel is still changing lives, and Christ is coming soon, and we have an opportunity to serve him and to make our lives in this temporal world count for eternity. Well, somebody who's doing that is a man named Andrew Horonich, and he and I got to be friends. He came to one of our Truth for a New Generation events, and he's graciously agreed to spend some time with us today. And I wanted you to meet this person, because he's very inspiring. And Andrew, I want to say that you inspire me, brother, and it's an honor to welcome you to the first of what I'm sure will be multiple visits on Truth for a New Generation. But thanks for being with us. Thank you, Alex.

I appreciate it. So tell us about yourself. You're a student at Liberty University, correct?

Yes, sir, that's correct. And what are you studying at Liberty? Well, I'm taking a BA in religious studies, and then I have three minors attached in theology, apologetics, and Bible.

Three minors. Theology, apologetics, and Bible. And so what do you do in your spare time? Yeah, that's what some people ask. They ask if I even have a social life, which I do.

I like to spend time with friends, I like to spend time with family, and then in some free time I like to write, because writing is how I've been gifted, and so I like to express that when I can. You know, you and I were talking on the phone, and you mentioned one of your professors, who has been a very popular speaker at our conferences, Dr. Nyanakin, if I'm pronouncing that correctly, who did such a good job at some of our TNG conferences. But when you came to Truth for a New Generation several years ago, what impact did that have on you? Well, I remember at the time, I was still very young, and I was interested in the Bible. I just didn't know how to exactly defend that faith I had, and it could be a problem at times, because I had that love for God, but I didn't know how to reason through that love for God. And so Truth for a New Generation, we were talking about relative truth and other contemporary issues, and speakers such as Josh McDowell and Alex Heer, they were able to help me understand how it is that my faith can be reasonable, because it is, as God told the prophet, that, come, let us reason together. Our faith is not unreasonable.

It has reason, because it is true. You know, it's so wonderful, and you're 19. Andrew, it's such a blessing to see a 19-year-old that not only you know Christ and you're saved, but you're very mature in the faith, and I think you're very insightful. A lot of people right now that are my age are concerned for your generation. I mean, why, to a large degree, not completely, but why have so many teens and 20-somethings kind of walked away from the church or maybe don't believe in salvation or absolute truth? Well, I think one of the reasons for it is this obsession that contemporary young people have with the idea of something being new being automatically better. And we had this idea in my grandfather's generation that if something was old, if something was broken, you fixed it. But now we have this idea that if it's old, you upgrade. You get something new. And we see this in the iPhone generation, where we call them the iGeneration.

If it's old, you get something new. And the same is true of our religion. Our religion has been associated with something that's old, something that's dusty. And so what do we do? We get rid of that. And the problem is that sometimes we think that pleases God because we think that God doesn't want to be held to tradition. He doesn't want to be held to this old way of thinking. And so we think that somehow we're pleasing God by distancing ourselves from the past, when actually what we're distancing ourselves from is historic, genuine Christianity. Yeah, there's some things that we don't upgrade from. I mean, clothing styles change.

Cards get redesigned. But when it comes to salvation and the blood of Jesus that washes our sins away and the empty tomb, I mean, those are truths for all generations, aren't they? Absolutely. Truth doesn't change over time. Two plus two yesterday was four.

Two plus two today equals four, and two plus two tomorrow equals four. Amen. You're listening to Truth for a New Generation, Alex McFarland, here with my guest, mighty man of God and only 19 years old, Andrew Hranich. Hey, when we come back, we're going to talk about truth and why truth matters.

Don't go away. Truth for a New Generation is back after this. Alex has written many books to help you defend your faith. One of them answers questions from skeptics.

It's cleverly titled Ten Answers for Skeptics. Today, skeptics are looking for authenticity, integrity and straightforward truth. And in the book, Alex McFarland identifies the 10 most common types of skepticism that plague doubters' minds and offers believers proven strategies for connecting intellectually and spiritually with those who are skeptical about the claims of Christianity. Learn how to answer intimidating questions. Identify the root issue behind those questions and dismantle the spiritual bombshells dropped by atheists. Plus, find encouragement to face hostility by persevering in love. The ultimate apologetic Christians can offer as a witness to our loving God.

Check out Ten Answers for Skeptics when you visit alexmcfarland.com. Christians don't necessarily agree with one another when it comes to questions of religious pluralism, homosexuality, the role of government, abortion and war. Too often, we manage these disagreements by ignoring them. Yet, we're called to engage the world for the sake of Christ.

How can we be effective if we avoid society's most pressing questions? In Ten Issues that Divide Christians, Alex McFarland challenges us to drill down to the Biblical core of 10 current issues such as social justice, evil and suffering, pornography and environmentalism as he echoes the Biblical invitation, Come, let us reason together. Only by engaging the Scriptures deeply, thinking clearly and speaking truthfully can we and God's family address our differences and discover the peace that comes with unity of purpose. Ten Issues that Divide Christians.

Find this book and many others at alexmcfarland.com. Welcome back to Truth for a New Generation, and we're talking about the unchanging truth of the Gospel. You know, I love in the New Testament Jude 3 that says we are to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. And we're talking with Andrew Heronich. You know, before the break, we were talking about truth and how some things don't change. I love your analogy of baseball, for one thing, because I love baseball, too. But when a batter gets a hit, he doesn't run to second or third. He doesn't run to the pitcher's mound.

He runs to first. We're kind of a generation now that doesn't like to follow the rule book but likes to write the rule book for themselves. As a Christian and as a student, and you are in ministry, how do you respond to people who push back about the idea that certain rules apply to everybody?

Well, there's this idea that we have that it might be good for somebody else, but it's not good for me. And that's a very dangerous idea, because who are you to assume that that's good for them, and who are you to make the rules? And it's almost as ridiculous as imagine Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, and one Israelite was standing nearby and said, you know what, I don't like those ten.

I'm going to make my own ten. Well, we wouldn't consider him an Israelite. He wouldn't be a true follower of Yahweh. It's incredible that Christ gives us these laws. He says to be obedient to the law of Christ, and yet people, they throw away those laws. They say, no, we don't want to keep that, and yet they call themselves a Christian.

It's absolutely astonishing to me. And the idea is that Christ himself said that if you love me, you will keep my commandments. And so the idea is that love is expressed through obedience.

If I love my parents, I'm going to obey them. So law is not simply about legalism. Law is about love. And that's why God so upholds his divine law with such wrath, and sometimes we get upset that God is wrathful. We think that it's beneath God, but the idea is that God's wrath stems from his love, and his love stems from what is holy, and what is holy is God's law. And so God upholds his law because of his love. Darrell Bock You know, as you were talking, Andrew, I was thinking about two scriptures, Matthew 7, 21 through 24, and Matthew 25. In the Matthew 25, where he talks about the sheep and the goats, and then the Matthew 7, at the judgment day, many say, Lord, Lord, we testified in your name. We did miracles.

We did many wonderful works. And he says, I never knew you. There are people that are busy in religion, but unless they know Jesus, if I understand the scripture, and if I'm hearing you, unless you have a relationship with Jesus and a life where you've yielded to the lordship of Jesus, the salvation of Christ, I mean, religion and spirituality, that's not the same as salvation, is it? Andrew No, it's not. And the idea is that Jesus can only be your Savior if he is also your Lord. You don't get to pick and choose like a buffet. And the idea is that sometimes our spirituality resembles that of a teenager, where we want our independence from our parents in terms of freedoms, but we want our dependence in terms of financial stability. And so we want those blessings or those things that our parents can give us, while at the same time wanting these freedoms that don't coincide with that truth. And the same way, we want these freedoms to do what it is that we want to do apart from God's will, while at the same time God's saving us. In the end, it comes down to what did God save us from? In the end, he saved us from ourself. He saved us from our fleshly desires to do that which is opposite of what he commands, opposite of what he loves.

And so when we submit under Christ's lordship, when we submit under his authority, we are truly saved not just from hell, but from ourselves. Do you see spiritual hunger among your peers, among your generation, Andrew? I think there is a subset today, I would say, of young people who they're able to see through the veil of religion and of the psychology that certain people give. I see this idea that these young people, they're not as naive as some people would imagine, and they are able to discern truth for themselves. And when something smells fishy, I think they know what is up and they move on, because there is just this insatiable hunger for what is true. And I remember I experienced that myself, when while something may sound nice, while it may look pretty, you can only dress up a pig to a certain extent.

You can put lipstick on a pig, but a pig is still a pig. And I think young people are figuring that out in this day and age, and I think that when you look at the statistics and you see these churches that are seeing fallings away, they're not genuine churches, they're not historic churches, they tend to be these new, hip churches. And sometimes it may seem harsh, but it may be a good thing that these churches fall away so that genuine, historic Christianity is reinforced. You know, Andrew, when I talk with churches that are concerned about reaching young people and there have been articles in recent years about the graying of the American church, as in gray hair, you know, aging, churches will call and they'll say, should we put in subwoofers? I mean, it's like a traditional sanctuary with pews and stained glass windows, but they're thinking, well, if I put in subwoofers, I'll get young people. Or if we throw together a praise band, you know, and no more organ, but let's anybody, somebody that can play electric guitar. Is it music or the style that wins a young person or not wins a young person? I mean, I guess my question is, isn't substance more important than style?

Isn't the meat of the Word much more crucial to focus on than making some attempt to try to compete with YouTube? Yeah, I think we have this idea that somehow if we fill a church building with people, that it's automatically a good thing. But the thing is, sometimes it can be an insult to God that you have people who are unrepentant of their sin, who are just lying in the wasteland of their wickedness, and yet they're bold enough to step into his presence, to have communion with his body, with his bride, and they think that somehow that's pleasing to God. And these are pastors who think that pleases God, and that's quite abominable. And the idea stems from the idea that there's a common saying that God loves the sinner and he hates the sin. And we treat the sin and the sinner as if there somehow was a divorce, but that's not true at all.

They are quite happily married together. And the idea is that God wants to break that wicked alliance, that wicked marriage, and we need to preach truth to people, because only truth can save. It reminds me of the parable of the sower. Jesus gives a simple command, go out and sow. He doesn't say wear a chain on your neck. He doesn't say make sure that you have Gucci boots on your shoes. He doesn't say have rock music behind you. He says go out and sow.

The problem is people are forgetting what they're called to the Great Commission, which is to go out and preach the good news of Christ, regardless if culture accepts it to be true or not. We've got to take a brief break. By the way, on the website, alexmcfarland.com, alexmcfarland.com. There's a little tab. There's a link that says, what does God say about my relationship with him? If you want to be saved, you want to know that you're born again. And frankly, you want to know some of the foundational, the grounding of what God's Word says about truth, go to that website, alexmcfarland.com, and look for the link, What Does God Say? And you'll find truth about the pathway to salvation and eternal life.

Stay tuned. More of Truth For New Generation after this. You know, Alex has been writing for many years, and one of his classic books is still great today as a basic introduction to the Christian faith. It's called Stand, Core Truths You Must Know for an Unshakeable Faith. This book will help you help your teens get off the roller coaster of doubt and onto solid ground. You'll read about the six pillars of biblical Christianity. They are, one, inspiration of the Bible, two, the virgin birth, three, the deity of Christ, four, atonement, five, Christ's resurrection, and six, Christ's return. You know, Alex mixes it up with humor and stories he gleaned from decades of working with youth and encourages teens to build a foundation of faith that will stabilize their lives and help them take a stand for Christ.

Simple and straightforward, Stand, Core Truths You Must Know for an Unshakeable Faith, available wherever Christian books are sold. America today is like a patient struggling to live, yet is being forcibly euthanized by her, quote, doctors. The life force within the patient fighting for survival is the honest citizens like yourself.

The team of, quote, caregivers are the local and national leaders actually contributing to the demise of the patient. The economy is crashing. Crime is exploding. The Constitution is being abolished. The assault on America, how to defend our nation before it's too late by Alex McFarland has one single purpose, to get you prepared.

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You're listening to truth for a new generation radio. Welcome back to the program. What a joy to be talking with Andrew Hranich, and we're going to resume that conversation in just a second. I do want to remind everybody that June 25 through 27, I'll be at the Cove, the Billy Graham Training Center in western North Carolina. We'll be going through the book of Acts, the great New Testament book, and we're going to be drawing principles of revival and spiritual awakening from the book of Acts. I want you to be there.

And so go to thecove.org, thecove.org, and sign up. These gatherings always fill up, and I want you to be there, and we'll look at the book of Acts from the New Testament. But right now, I want to resume my conversation with Andrew Hranich. And you've written a book, Andrew, called The Way Up Came Down. The Way Up Came Down.

What does the title of your book mean? Well, it's referring to when in the Gospel of John, Jesus says that he is the way. And so the idea is that Jesus talks about his descension from heaven, when he came down from heaven. And so the only way to heaven, the only way up, was revealed when Jesus came down.

So it's a play on words. So the way up came down. Folks, I do encourage you to read Andrew's book, The Way Up Came Down, because it is a wonderfully worded, wonderfully reasoned and written book about salvation. But Andrew, what drew you to this?

What brought you to such an interest in the things of God and of Jesus? Well, I think primarily it was my parents. I grew up in a Christian household, and I know that's very common for young people to say that they grew up in a Christian household.

Well, when I say that, I don't take it for granted. My parents are very godly people. I have a godly father. I have a godly mother.

I have a big family. And so we were always family-oriented. More importantly, we were God-oriented. Everything that we did was centered on God.

We'd have Sunday Sundays, in which on Sunday evening my dad would give us an ice cream sundae, and with it he would share the Scripture with us. And so little things like that I think I took for granted when I was younger. But as I got older, I realized that there was a purpose my parents were doing this for. And I remember I got to that age where I had to make a decision for myself. And it didn't come to the point where I was brainwashed and I had no decision to make whatsoever. But I saw the truth for myself, and I realized that Jesus clearly stated that he was the only way by which men can be saved, and either Jesus was a liar or he was telling the truth. And it became apparent to me through the truth that we see in the Bible.

And if the Bible is true, you'd expect to find that in history and in other spheres, and we do see that. And so there was no way I could deny that Jesus was who he said he was, that he was the Son of God, and thus he is the only way to salvation. Nowadays, a lot of people seem to believe that if you're sincere, and I've had people tell me, Andrew, they'll say, well, it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere. Even if somebody is absolutely sincere about something, they're committed, they are just deeply invested in something they believe. If they're believing something that's false, sincerity is not going to save them, is it?

No, it's like if I believe that I can fly and I can defy the law of gravity by jumping off a mountain, the only person I'm actually deceiving is myself, because the law of gravity will kick in and I will meet a pitiful end. If you had one verse of Scripture that you could engrave on the heart of this generation, one piece of God's Word that you would love to make this generation aware of, Andrew, what would that verse be? I'd say, not to seem corny, but I would say John 3.16, because I think it is the most famous verse in the Bible, but it's often the most distorted verse in the Bible. The verse says, For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. And notice that Jesus didn't say, they shall have eternal life so that they won't perish. Notice the word order is that they shall not perish comes first. It's because the remedy that God gives is because we face condemnation. It's because we face judgment. That is why God offers to us eternal life, because all men are going to die.

We're all going to perish. And so because of that, God in his love sent his Son. It's often, sometimes we imagine that Jesus is the loving one and the Father is the wrathful one and that Jesus mercifully came down, he was dying on the cross, and in that moment, God just decided to make a way for salvation.

That is not true at all. The Bible says that is God who so loved the world, God. And that just reminds me that this plan of redemption, God did not just all of a sudden create it on the spot, but rather he planned it from all eternity past. And the Father, Son and Spirit were all in perfect harmony in this agreement. The Son did not go to the cross unwillingly, rather he voluntarily laid down his life. Jesus said that no one takes his life.

He lays it down. And true to his word, we see in the Gospels that the moment that Jesus dies, he says, �Father, into your hands I commit my spirit,� and Jesus gives up his life. Because if Jesus did not separate himself from everything that he had, yes, even his own life, then we could not receive what it is that he has to offer. So Jesus was obedient to the Father, even to the point of death, so that we could receive eternal life. And he laid down his life for us.

And if we receive that gift of salvation, it�s only right that we lay down our lives for him. Dr. Justin Marchegiani Amen, brother. Dr. Darrell Bock Hey, I wanna thank you. Where can people find your book? Dr. Justin Marchegiani Well, you can find �The Way Up Came Down� on Amazon. You can find it on Barnes & Noble. You can find it on Ingram. You can find it on eBay. As many book outlets that you can think of, you should find it there.

Dr. Darrell Bock It is a great book. And folks, I wanna say that we need to pray. You know, the Bible says, �Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest,� that he will send forth laborers. I want you to pray for Andrew Hronich. I mean, God�s hand is on his life.

He is working hard, getting his education. God is using him. But I want us to pray that God will raise up millions more. Andrew, millennials are not unreachable. I mean, this generation, God loves this generation. Millennials and younger, they can be reached. And as you and I said earlier, I think they�re spiritually hungry.

Andrew Hronich Yes, no one is too far gone. And sometimes we say that phrase that they�re too far lost, that they�re too far gone. But that just kind of takes away from the power of God, that just reduces the power of God to the power of man. And the thing we have to remind ourselves is that it is not us who convince people of the truth. It is not us who bring people to salvation.

Rather, it is God himself. And that�s why the Bible, in John 20, Jesus breathed on his disciples the Holy Spirit, because he was not going to leave this to men, because he knew that men might fail, men might forget these things. And so he gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit so that in the power of God, people might be redeemed, that people might see the truth, that they might behold the light of men, which is Christ, and that they may acknowledge this truth and step into the light, that they may be fully known in Christ. David B We are to share the truth of Scripture. And the good news of God�s love also includes the reality of God�s judgment, God�s holiness, and God�s mandate that we repent, we turn from sin and turn to Christ. Don�t think that you can win, people, by watering down God�s truth. Preach the full counsel of God, and God will bless that and use that to bring people to himself. You�ve been listening to Truth For a New Generation. Again, the website, AlexMcFarland.com. We look forward to being with you next time on the program. And until then, stand strong for Jesus. God bless.