TNG with Dr. Chris Gnanakan

Best-selling author, speaker, and advocate for Christian apologetics, Dr. Alex McFarland. Best-selling author and apologist, Dylan Burroughs. Together bringing you truth.

For a new generation, this is TNG Radio. In the New Testament book of 2 Peter chapter 1, verses 16 through 21, the Word of God talks about the authenticity of the Gospel, the historicity of the life of Jesus, the resurrection, the transfiguration that was seen by Peter, James, and John. It talks about the authenticity of Scripture and not only the trustworthiness of Scripture but the fact that the Bible has an objective meaning. It's not just a subjective opinion, but it is, as the Bible says, a sure word of prophecy. And verse 16 of that 2 Peter 1 Scripture says that we have not followed cleverly devised fables.

And with that, we bring you to TNG Radio. And we're talking about the good news of the Gospel, that Christ rose from the dead, the Son of God, on the cross paid for our sins. That's called the atonement. And by faith in Jesus, you can know that your sins are forgiven and you can know that you are ready to meet God when you leave this world.

And so much more. And it is reality. It is truth.

It is not a myth or a legend or a fable, but it is the Gospel and it is truth. With that, we welcome you to the program. My name is Alex McFarland. With me is Dylan Burrows. And Dylan, I am so excited about the program that we're recording right now. And this is the first of what I'm sure will be many visits with our guest, who is one of the keynote speakers at Truth for a New Generation coming up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

And I just, in only a couple of conversations, I have fallen in love with this brother that we're about to meet. And Dylan, why don't you introduce the listeners to our guest? Well, certainly, Alex. And Dr. Chris Nonican from Liberty University is with us today. He's a professor at the School of Divinity in the Theology and Global Studies Department. And we are honored to have him with us to share a wealth of information on his global ministry experiences, as well as how it relates to apologetics in our lives today. So thank you, Dr. Nonican, for being with us today. It's my joy and pleasure, Dylan, and Dr. Alex, thrilled to be part of this program. Well, let me say, as a twice-graduate of Liberty, my wife and I love Liberty University and Lynchburg. And even though we've been away for more than 20 years, we keep pretty closely informed about this school. And I'm thrilled that you're there teaching and training a generation of young leaders. Tell us a little bit about your journey and how you met the Lord Jesus and how God ultimately would bring you to Liberty University.

We'll be glad to. Well, my Asian mind, I'm from Bangalore, a city in South India. Bangalore is a little city in India with over 10 million people. And most of India, as you know, are not only Hindu by persuasion, but we have more Muslims in India than the entire Middle East put together. The Sikh religion started in India. In fact, most of the major religions of the world, Dylan and Alex, were spawned out of this nation of the Indus Valley.

So it goes very, very old. My great-grandfather was from a Hindu persuasion, but the British missionaries, as you know, with colonialism, for good or bad, came the Christian message. And my great-grandfather was very graced, I would say, to hear that gospel and respond to it, become followers of Christ. And that's why you see my last name, Nyanakin, which means the eye of the God Shiva, the God of death. I also work in restricted access nations and it's very humorous because they open my passport and they read Nyanakin, the eye of the God of death. And they're like, oh, keep going.

And they stamp it readily and let me go in. So God had a purpose for my life. And that's something I couldn't get away with. And let me very briefly mention that my mother taught me a very important lesson. She said those who do not read are no better than those who cannot read. Wow, that is profound.

So she borrowed money from moneylenders and put me in a school so I can learn English. And that's where I first heard about the gospel, the story, the good news about Jesus and who he is and what he came to do. Now, I must confess, I didn't like Christians too much, but I could not get away from the compelling compassion and the love of Christ. I think that apologetic or the ethic of love was what really drew or constrained me to respond to that grace.

And my karmic mind, karma, you know, the repent soul principle, I knew there was something fishy because how can I get everything for nothing? But when I knew the contrast between karma and Charis, the grace of God, where Jesus did it all and all to him, I owe, and that was the greatest exchange. And I couldn't say no to so great a salvation. So that's how I personally received Christ. It was from a Christian school. I was sent to study. And yeah, that was my initial commitment to Jesus. I didn't know whether it's Savior or Lord because I didn't realize I could do one without the other. Were you still in Bangalore when you accepted Christ?

Yes, yes. Very much into Bangalore. In fact, the first time I was educated is I couldn't go to college. I did my first year in college and my parents said, you know, we need someone to work to pay the house rent and so on. And they put me in a German firm called Bosch, Michael Bosch, the German.

And they're there from Stuttgart. They taught me electrical engineering. So Alex and Dylan, I'm a four year certified electrical diploma guy who worked in India. So it was only after that I had the opportunity to study at Word of Life Bible Institute. And Jack Watson brought me to New York and then from there to Tennessee Temple. And then Uncle John, John Stott, as you would call him, found me and mentored me and took me to England. And I guess through the Langham and the Overseas Council, the Queen paid for my PhD, so I can't complain.

Well, you know, you mentioned Jack Watson. We have a great love of Word of Life. And when Angie and I were brand new married newlyweds, Jack Watson came to Liberty, Liberty University, and did a revival for the students and prayed over us, prayed over our marriage and our future. And I am thrilled to hear that you have some history with Word of Life because they've been very special in our lives as well.

Sure. Well, Jack, I don't know if you knew that they wanted to go international, Alex. And Harry Ballback was the guy who was doing a lot of ministry in South America. And when Jack wanted to come to India, he couldn't. And so Wendell Calder, who was an evangelist on the board, said, Jack, if you can't go to India, why don't you bring some young fellows? And I'll never forget the phrase.

He said, put the Bible under the belt and put the fire of God in their heart and send them back to their people. That's wonderful. 37 years ago, I was the young man that Jack Watson brought to Word of Life. And little did he know that today I teach on both campuses the Book of Acts for missions. That's fantastic. And we're enjoying this fascinating conversation together.

Stick with this. We'll be right back at Truth for a New Generation radio. First Peter 3.15 tells us to be ready always to give an answer for the hope we have. We're instructed to be prepared to defend our faith. This is Alex McFarland for the Life Answers Teams, students we train at North Greenville University, a leading Christian college in South Carolina. The Life Answers Teams are made up of students who will inspire and equip your congregation. These apologetics teams we train speak in churches to youth groups and train Christians of all ages to address key issues of our times from a biblical perspective. Like is there a God? Is the Bible true? What about gender and moral issues? Call me at 864-977-2008 and we will arrange for the Life Answers Team to come to your church and give a presentation that will benefit your people for years to come.

864-977-2008 and always be ready. Over centuries, the Bible has inspired humanity and shaped the very world we live in. But how do we know this book is the Word of God and not merely the words of men? What we believe about the Bible is based on what we believe about its source. The God Who Speaks explores the evidence of the Bible's inspiration and authority through some of the world's most respected biblical scholars. We have essentially a dual authorship so it's true to say that Paul wrote Romans. It's equally true to say that God wrote Romans.

He says we saw this and that sets the Bible apart from almost everything else in the ancient world and its religious pantheon of gods and goddesses. The God Who Speaks is a feature-length documentary from the American Family Association. Available now at TheGodWhoSpeaks.org. This is Dylan Burrows back with Alex McFarland on Truth For A New Generation radio and we're talking with Dr. Chris Nonican, professor at the School of Divinity at Liberty University, one of our partners and close friends here at Truth For A New Generation. I want to mention if you're listening today and you're interested in furthering your education at Liberty University, they have online programs that will fit any lifestyle. I want to encourage you today to go to liberty.edu.tng. That's liberty.edu.tng for Truth For A New Generation.

Request more information, find out how you can learn more about being a champion for Christ. But as we continue today, Alex, tell us a little bit more about the conference coming up and a little bit more about the story we're sharing with our guests today. Yeah, we're going to be just in a month in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We're so excited about the next Truth For A New Generation conference. It's going to be in Greenwell Springs Baptist Church. We've got a lot of great speakers like Dr. Michael Brown, Brett Kunkel from Stand To Reason, Dr. Chris Nonican from Liberty is going to be speaking and so many other things. And folks, we want you to go to the website truthforanewgeneration.com. Please as we say, pray, promote, and plan to attend. Here's what you'll get at Truth For A New Generation. And it's appropriate for youth, adults, all ages, but answers to the tough questions about the Gospel and defending the Christian worldview, truth to build your life upon, how Scripture speaks to today's issues, so many things going on, militant secularism, and the redefinition of marriage and morality and transgenderism, and questions about things like immigration and the problem of pain and suffering, and how do we share the Gospel with a Muslim, and so much more.

Answers to the tough questions, Scripture that speaks to today's issues, and so we hope you'll plan to be there. And I want to say, Dylan, how much I am thrilled that Liberty University is teaching apologetics. I went there 25 years ago plus, because as far as I could tell, at that point it was one of the only schools that had a master's program in apologetics. And a lot of the great professors that I studied under, like Gary Habermas and others, became speakers in our Truth For A New Generation events.

We're very excited about what Dr. Nyanneken is going to share. And I want to ask you, doctor, how you got into apologetics. You shared about your testimony. Tell us how God brought you to apologetics, and how it ultimately would become a ministry and a career. Apologetics.

You know, it's amazing. One of the things I discovered, I told you, in my journey and finding Christ as personal Savior, is about loving God with all my mind. I mean, being from a generation of thinkers and people who used to be gurus or teachers, my middle name is still Guru, I realized that evangelicals probably have two minds, Alex.

They've lost the first one and the other one's gone looking for it. You know, and I thought to myself, I do need to offer people a reason for the hope. And part of it, Alex, was not only the competence of knowing the content of the Gospel, but also not only to be able to defend the Gospel, as Peter says in 1 Peter 3.15, but also as Jude puts it in his chapter in the second and third verse, to beyond defending, to contend for the Gospel. So I love the defend and the contend going together, and I found out, Alex, that in evangelical circles, we had a lot of people on the defense on what they did not believe and why we shouldn't have long hair or wear certain clothes or read a certain version. But coming from India, I said, how about those who are contending for the faith, particularly when you think of Jesus, not Jesus also, as every Hindu and people in the pluralistic world believe, but also Jesus only. And you can see every religion ultimately is exclusive.

And I think C.S. Lewis is right, you know, Lewis said there's ultimately only two religions in the world. There's Hinduism that absorbs every other and Christianity that excludes every other. And so the truth claims of Christ just was so attractive, Alex, for me, it gave me that inquiring spirit, but ultimately, I realized that the engagement of our mind is transformational. It changes not just you, it changes those you come in contact with. So I fell in love and took off in that area. Well, that's incredible. Tell us just briefly about your journey to come to Liberty University and the role that you have in influencing students today. Wow.

Liberty, I mean, we talk about a generation where evangelistically speaking, we played number games, but Liberty is no number game. I literally teach each day, 800 and sometimes up to a thousand students. Oh my goodness.

Tell me who would give a mega church celebrity pastor an opportunity. I am humbled. So let me tell you very briefly, my oldest daughter who's now finishing a medical studies and my youngest one is finishing here in digital media and Stratcom at Liberty. My oldest one had come here and mums wanted to visit daughters, you know, they all feel a little sick before their finals. And Dorothy kind of persuaded me, talk about having apologetics with your wife persuading you. So comply and come here only to realize that, uh, two of the big classes, uh, were Elmer towns.

I'm sure you remember Elmer town. And so, uh, the evangelism classes was David Wheeler's class, uh, Dr. Heinsohn, I was taking a larger class. They said to me, what are you doing? I said, my daughter's here.

And they go, wow. Uh, well, could we talk to you? Long story short, they basically said, uh, why don't you join our team?

We've got a few doctorate degrees, wanting to put them to use. I said, you know what? I'm a missionary. Technically I could have stayed in Oxford if I wanted to, or worked out of Singapore. I really like to, uh, I came here basically to be, uh, from this great nation. And by the way, I'm not American, so I have a green card. I operate to the nations among the unreached people.

They said, you know what? Why don't you pour into young people so that they can exponentially do things bigger and better than you could ever do in your lifetime? That is how I joined. I teach the three courses of theology 201. I also teach advanced Christology, uh, which is, uh, you know, basically an upper level graduate course. I teach Christianity and the cults, uh, coming from, uh, you know, the outside world. I asked myself, why is that every major cult in the world was born in the USA?

What is it that gives it its fertile ground? And so it was great to explore with my students and discover answers. And of course my expertise is Jesus among the other gods, world religions, and I think I'm the only professor who addresses people of other faiths, particularly in this course. Hold that thought. We've got to take a break. We'll be right back on TNG radio. Pretty bad things happen. I interviewed hundreds of children, ages five to 12, and we address actual questions from actual children, the spiritual issues that are on the minds of your kids.

Did Jesus ever sin? The book and video lessons are great for groups of any size and was produced with the goal of equipping kids to stand strong for Christ in any situation. The 21 toughest questions your kids will ask, the book study guide and video series. You'll find it at afastore.net.

That's afastore.net. Our country is falling apart. Political unrest, social upheaval, the breakdown of the family, the rise of atheism, the rise of Islam. Our religious freedoms are under attack. There's gender fluidity.

Gender identity is making a mess of freedom of expression. So we need to put some skin in the game and love this nation. As Christians, we are to stand strong. There has to be some personal investment in the living out and the preservation of America. Stand Strong America will help you take the fear that you face and the bleakness that you face, but help you become a champion, a bold champion for Christ. In Stand Strong America, Jason Jimenez and I lay out the facts about our nation, the current condition, and how you, yes, you, your family, your church, your community can be involved in keeping this great republic. Stand Strong America is a guide to bring courage and hope for you, the Christian.

Wherever Christian books are sold. Welcome back to TNG Radio. We're talking with Dr. Christopher Nonican from Liberty University. I do want to thank everybody who prays for this ministry, who supports.

You're enabling us to do so many things. In fact, even as we record this program, I'm on the road doing two back-to-back youth crusades in the southeastern U.S. And I want to remind everybody that we've just published our newest edition of the Prayer Guide for America. This is a little booklet that we've been privileged to circulate, a couple hundred thousand of these in recent years. And on one part of the booklet is evangelistic praying for our nation. The other side of the booklet is revival praying for our nation. And you know, we often say specific prayers get specific answers, and if you would send a gift in any amount, we will send you a package of about two dozen of these little prayer guides for America. You can use them in your own personal prayer time, your small group, maybe give some to a friend. It's a good conversation starter. So if you would send a gift, a tax-deductible gift in any amount, it will be fruitfully invested, faithfully handled, and you can do that to P.O.

Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina, 27404. Just put TNG, and you can also give online, and you can go to TruthForAnewGeneration.com, and we'll send you a pack of the most updated edition of the Prayer Guide for America. Well, I want to hurry back to our conversation with our guest, Dr. Christopher Nyoneken of Liberty University. And Dr. Nyoneken, let's talk a little bit about apologetics. And I want to steer the conversation to the subject of the West, and how Europe and the West, and specifically America, has undeniably Christian foundations, but yet in recent decades we've seen such a falling away, and I would say really an apostasy. And just give us your thoughts on this, and with the time we've got left, let's talk about a pathway back, how we might call our communities and ultimately our country and our culture back to biblical truth. I mean, it's basically, I think sometimes any of us on an individual level, certainly churches and America going global, we can develop wings and forget our roots.

Roots are very important. And when you think about the fundamentalist and the modernist controversy in the early years in the 18th century, where there was this loss in the confidence in the word of God. Alex, I think it begun there when we had a skeptical mind to that first lie, has God really said? And I think what is symptomatic of our time is the loss of absolutes. We have come to a place where we have put aside the authority of scriptures. And I think going back to the written word, which presents the living word, is a callback to revival. So the Bible revival is how I would put it. We need desperately a revival of getting back to the word, of course, Josiah and the Old Testament.

When you put the scriptures where it barely longs to hasten to say the second, I think, which is symptomatic, along with the loss of absolutes is a relative morality. And I think this comes back, Alex, to the fear of the Lord, which Proverbs 9 and verse 10 says is the beginning of all wisdom. I love the verse you read from 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 16, where Peter clarifies we don't follow this cleverly devised myths. And I mean, I come from a land with a lot of mythological stuff, but we need to look at it not in some speculation that we concoct, but as a revelation that we received that has direct bearing not only on what we believe theology, but how we behave ethics and morality. I don't want to be spiritualize the whole thing, but we need to get back to prayer and seeking the holiness of God, the fear of God in our lives, Alex. So the word of God and the fear of God would be two ways that I would present the need of the hour for us to see a Bible revival. Let me ask you this, and time fleets away, so I'm sorry we can't explore this as fully as I would like to.

Maybe in a future show we will. In American Christianity, do you think we make it too easy? We just say, hey, recite a prayer, when in reality the word of God calls us to become a disciple? Well, you probably remember we went through an entire phase where the whole debate was against easy believers and lordship salvation. And I hinted to the part that I think we need to be delivered from not only sins, but ourselves.

We need to come to a point where we realize that there is no glib formula or three steps or some prayer. I think the classic is Dietrich Born offers cost of discipleship. And Luke 9 23, I'm a Bible apologist, as you've figured out by now, I go back to the scripture for my authority. I think following Jesus is what discipleship is, Alex, that unless we give up, we really can't take up.

And unless we take up, we won't keep up. I use that for young people very simply to say, Jesus said, listen, you've got to deny yourself. I think that should be part of the gospel message, repentance. When did repentance get out of fashion, Alex?

I don't know. You know, I mean, why don't we hear that on televangelism? Preach it, brother, preach it. So this is where I think the followership I mean, I'm sick and tired of leadership. And I think we need to emphasize followership. And I think Jesus promised he would make us leaders.

But our task is to follow him. So this giving up of dying to self, taking up the cross. Again, I think we've lost this question of sacrifice, Alex, I work in restricted access countries where people walk eight hours to come to church, sit under trees to listen to God's word. They are excommunicated from their homes if they are baptized, Alex, there's a cost that they're praying to put it very glibly and simply, your religion is only worth how much you pay for it. What does it cost us to follow Christ?

So the give up and taking up the cross, I think is necessary if American Christianity needs to keep up its evangelistic edge. Such powerful words. And we've been talking with Dr. Chris Nonican at Liberty University today. We appreciate you being with us and thank you for your time. We encourage you to go to TruthForANewGeneration.com where you can download this, listen to it again and share it with friends. Again, TruthForANewGeneration.com. Thanks for being with us.

We'll be with you next time. Truth For A New Generation, in association with Alex McFarland Evangelistic Ministries, exists to equip Christians with a biblical worldview through conferences and camps. For information about upcoming events, visit TruthForANewGeneration.com or give us a call at 877-YES-GOD-1. That's 877-YES-GOD and the number 1.

TNG radio is made possible by the friends of Alex McFarland Evangelistic Ministries. P.O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404. That's P.O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404. Or give online at AlexMcFarland.com or TruthForANewGeneration.com. Thanks for listening and join us again next time as we bring you more truth for a new generation on TNG radio.