Welcome to Watchman on the Wall, a daily outreach of Southwest Radio Ministries and SWRC.com. God is still on the throne, and prayer changes things. Today, we visit with biblical scholar and researcher Wayne House about biblical archaeology and its impact on Christians and the church. In addition to our daily program, Southwest Radio Ministries produces resources, books and DVDs designed to encourage and strengthen your faith. Our brand new books, Rise of the One World Mind by Josh Davis, Secret Societies by Micah Van Hus, and our 10-episode television series, Pilgrimage to Zion, are all available right now. Pilgrimage to Zion. This special series was filmed in Israel and Jordan. With the beautiful scenery of the Holy Land as our backdrop, our host and teacher, Larry Stam, reveals Zion is about the Lord, His dwelling place, and His redeemed people, the people of God. You are invited, my friends, to join us on this pilgrimage to Zion. All of these resources are available right now at SWRC.com. That's SWRC.com. When you order resources from Watchman on the Wall, you are supporting the ministry and you're helping us to continue to proclaim around the world each day that God is still on the throne and prayer changes things. What is biblical archaeology and why is it important? Affirm Apologetics director Clayton Van Hus and his guest Wayne House are here to answer these important questions. We're glad that you tuned in to the Watchman on the Wall program today. I am your host, Clayton Van Hus. I am the director of Affirm Apologetics, which is, of course, the apologetics branch of Southwest Radio Ministries. So today, I'm joined by a special guest. Dr. H. Wayne House is with us. And Dr. House is an author. He is a professor. He is a editor. He is a man of many talents. Dr. House, welcome to the program. Well, it's great to be with you. Yes, and I understand you've also had some history in radio. Yeah, I like radio. Not only have I, obviously, I've been on this side of it a couple hundred times over the years or more, but actually I worked at WMZ and Detroit. I really enjoyed that job. I worked there for, I did that for a couple of years, or not actually a couple of years, about a year, and they asked me to stay on their full-time host. You had a great person in charge before I, before I took that who resigned and took another job. And I enjoyed it, but then I was offered a law position, a full professor of law in California. And actually, I left the radio and went to California to teach law. So yeah, so you are an academic. You have multiple degrees. You teach. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Like, what are the things that you've studied? What are the things you teach? And how does that affect your ministry? Well, it broadens my way of looking at things, I think, the different ways in which I've been in different subjects I've studied. You know, I came to Christ at 10. I took this real seriously, believe it or not, at that age. At 14, I started preaching. I had a license to preach in a church I was with. Then I started pastoring when I was 18, went off to seminary two years later, and started teaching grad school when I was 24. So that sort of started me off in teaching. I thought I was going to be a pastor or a traveling evangelist. I ended up being a professor. That's what I've done most of my life. I've been at some really good schools, North Northwestern College in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. I was at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. Then I went off to teach at Letourneau for a number of years. Then, you know, just different places along the way. I went and taught law. Of course, I taught at Dallas Seminary and taught at Trinity Law School. And then I took a job that I really enjoyed up in Northwest. with a place called Faith International University Seminary. And I started that right before the 2000. Hullabaloo. That ended up not being much. The 2000, I started teaching actually in the summer before that, and I've taught there ever since. Although I do teach at Liberty and Calvary University and Veritas and different schools on different adjunct courses. But that's sort of what I do. I teach and write. I thoroughly enjoy it and take groups to Israel. I've done I lose track now 40 something times. That's sort of what my life consists of. I'm supposed to be retired, but I decided not to do that. You're a Bible scholar, and we've talked a little bit in the past when I met you. We talked about a project you're working on. You've worked with Bible commentaries in the past, but you have a project right now that is pretty amazing. It's unique. Well, you know, I got the idea. I've done two different times that I've been to Caesarea Philippi, sometimes called Pontius, you know, or to the Arabs, Bonnius. So that's real Philippi. And when I take groups there, I always let them, you know, after I've sort of taught for a while and explained everything, out of which came a book that I did called...one of my favorite books. I wrote it in 30 days when I got back home from this thing when I was on the tour. I came back with this inward thing, I've got to write this. So I wrote that in 30 days called, The Jesus Who Never Lived, exposing false Christ and finding the real Jesus. And I was talking about not only cults and world religions, but higher critical scholars who claim to be Christian of some sort, and also the church. Do we really understand who Jesus is? People come up with all sorts of things. I wrote that book, and then I went back another time Just such a real fill pie when I was there, and I got this idea. I thought, I wish I could take more people on tours and explain the Bible to them, because that's how my tours are. They're Bible-oriented tours, so that you come back understanding the Bible better and as you've seen the land. And some tours are pretty weak. Yes. But I really try to do that. And it hit me, I need to take this to people, what I'm trying to teach here. And so I came back and came up with an idea, and I've had several people that have...I had a guy at Wycliffe contact me and said, said, we teach people of Bible, their language in written form, and then we translate the Bible into it. He said, but they really don't understand the world of the Bible is so different from their world. And he said, what you've given us will help them to understand the Bible. And he was really excited. Then I had another guy who's worked in Bible studies materials on the internet for decades, and he wrote me a letter, voluntarily wrote me a letter, says, you know, he said, Dr. House, I checked the top 100 study tools on the internet, and he said, not even one is even close to what you're doing. So what I'm trying to do is go through the Bible, By using images, sometimes that means, you know, it means photos. Sometimes it means charts and maps and graphs, and I do a lot of chart books, so different kinds of things like that. And then I try to take video and use that at places, and you can watch the videos. And then I have articles in which I deal with the biblical text. Sometimes I relate church history, fathers, what do they think about the text. Sometimes I relate to, you know, archaeological sites. And I have, you know, examples of the artifacts and the biblical sites. I want people to see and understand the Scripture as they—there are some things that have put stuff—in other words, they just put pictures in biblical books. All my pictures relate to the verses in the biblical books. Sometimes the other sources, they really don't relate to what the text is talking about. They just feel the pages. So what I'm trying to do is what I put in a sword, it will be a sword relating to the sword that was used by that kind of person in that nation at that time. Right, so if I'm reading about Peter in the garden cutting the ear off the guard, I can click, and this is an electronic commentary, basically, but more. I can click on what you've got, the note you've got, and I can see maybe what Peter would have been carrying? Yeah. In other words, if I talk about it, of course you can't talk about everything, and I have It takes a long time to do this. It's a lengthy project. I've never done one so complete. And so I want to cover chapter by chapter as much as I can verse by verse. Sometimes I have what I call passage studies, which means I want to discuss the whole passage. It might be seven or eight verses. Sometimes I call it a note because I'm just dealing with the verse. Sometimes I call it a topic because, for example, I deal with the question, why is Matthew, a Jewish gospel, the most Gentile-oriented book in the New Testament? You know, I should say in the Gospels. And I'd explain what Matthew's doing in reference to the Gentiles. I have a statement on why does Matthew, for example, that's another one, why does Matthew have all these references to women in a genealogy? And I discuss the problem and the issues. So I try to cover everything I can in the text so that when you read it, you have an understanding from the history or the archeology or some form to understand what's going on in the text. My question is, you have a passion for explaining Scripture, for explaining it to people who might be wondering, what is this all about? I'm seeing that here. Yeah. Whether I'm on my tours, or I'm in a church preaching, or whether I'm doing these study tools, my passion for my whole life, since I was a—wow, it's hard to imagine. But when I look back at my life, my passion for my whole life, from the time that I came to be a believer as a young man, is to help people understand the Bible. So I was learning Greek in high school. I took it on myself to take Bible study tools when I was about a junior in high school. I just wanted to know and know and know. And so I've tried to convey that for my whole life. And that's important, that's one of the things that Affirm and Southwest Radio Ministries, that's one of the things we're all about. So we're talking today about the Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology, for which you're one of the authors and contributors, correct? Yes, originally I'd done about half of it, but it was cut back to a smaller portion. I did that with a really fine scholar, Randall Price, and Randy and I have been friends for years, so he asked me if I would help him on the volume. I did the New Testament portions, and he did the Old Testament and the Intertestamental. All the Scripture was written for me. That's how we have to get together in our thinking that it's written for my benefit, and I have to actually get in and study it to understand what God is wanting to convey to me in reference to His plan, in reference to my personal life, in reference to issues that we run into. There are people that do strange things with Scripture because they jump into it without a clue what the text is talking about. They don't read context. They just simply pick out a word. There's the old famous one. The Bible says that Jesus hung himself. Jesus also said one time, do what you do, do quickly. And Jesus has another statement one time, do thou likewise. I mean, we can put little pieces of scripture together and come out with insane ideas. Oh, yes. We have to read scripture contextually, understand the meaning of the words. It's a task of learning. And remember, Paul complimented these new people that he preached to in Greece at one time. He spoke to the Berea before he went to Philippi, you know, and he said he complimented them. that they search the scripture daily to see if what he said as an apostle was correct. That's right. Luke commends them in Acts 17 11 because they're looking at what Paul and Silas are bringing to them and they're checking the scriptures to make sure that these men sent from God are telling them the truth. And these people obviously were Jewish in nature because the Gentiles didn't have much scripture they knew. Right. We do find some things on Mars Hill which are fascinating but But the point of it is, yes, we're expected to be faithful to Scripture to study it. And that's one of the kind of qualifications for a person becoming like an elder in the church. I mean, you don't just pick anybody, you pick somebody who's tuned into studying Scripture. Well, Paul said that to Timothy, 2 Timothy 2.15. Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who needs not be ashamed. We can be shamed if we don't know what we're talking about. We are to study. Yeah, there's a translation of that, which is probably funny. It says rightly dividing the word of truth, and the King James, some people think that means you divide the Bible up or something. There's a translation that says handling properly the word of truth. Remember the 2nd Timothy 3.16, all scripture is breathed out from God, and it's profitable for doctrine. There you have it. Theology is important. Doctrine reproof, sometimes that's important for us personally or to others. Correction or instruction in righteousness. It has multiple purposes, but all of it requires work. And that's, I think, one thing this handbook helps us with. So let's ask the question, what is Bible archaeology? Well, archaeology is a general field, and it means the study of the ancient, you know, the archae, the beginnings, and it refers to the study of history. and includes in that different kinds of topics and different kinds of materials and whatever you're talking about. The Bible archaeology then is a focus on Scripture itself, or biblical archaeology, either one of those words, because Scripture is from God, but it's in a historical plane. It's in a historical setting. these things really happen. They're not Paul Bunyan's tales or some fiction novel somewhere. These are real events that occurred in time and space history. And so they require us to get back and to listen, and I use that in a metaphorical way, to listen to what is being said. For example, the Scripture says that Pontius Pilate was a prefect. Actually, it's a term, even though King James says procurator. It's a prefect of ancient Rome. He actually is the one who judged Christ in reference to the leadership and the Sanhedrin were doing, trying to get rid of Jesus. They didn't like his message. Did the guy actually say that? Did he actually live? We find evidence historically in an artifactual form that he did. We have the evidence. the stela that was found at Caesarea Philippi. And when it talks about this thing or that thing, here's a good example. A world-famous archaeologist who was a classical archaeologist, not a biblical. No archaeology per se hadn't really occurred at that point. But he was a classical archaeologist, and as he was traveling with a young Christian man, Scholars were saying the Bible was not very accurate, and they had terminology that Luke used was simply nonexistent, and so forth. And yet, as he was doing his archaeology in the Mediterranean, and his young Christian friend was giving him guidance, he found terms that were found in the biblical text of Luke's writings that were also in the archaeology of the ancient world. And he said, this Luke guy, he's phenomenal. He's right on target with the ancient world. He understood the terminology and so forth, the locations of places. And so he began to use Luke as one of the primary historians of the ancient world. Sir William Ramsey, as you know, was his name. He became a believer and wrote many books. But it just shows that the Bible is a real book with real things that happened. The key is that we study it carefully to get it right. Yes, that is so important. My mentor, Scott Stripling, is fond of saying that the Bible is about real people, real places, and real events. And that's what we find in the ground when we dig. How do we use—and of course, this book is a good resource for that—how do we use our understanding of biblical archaeology as an apologetic in our discussions? Well, there's a good example found in the turn of the 20th century from the 19th century. Many of the people that were in scholarship, which doesn't always mean they make any better decisions than some others, because they have prejudices sometimes. So now we're in apologetics. They said, this whole thing that we're looking at about Hittites, these people never existed. We know about Assyrians, we know about Babylonians and Egyptians, but the Hittites never really existed. And the Bible talks about them 40-something times. A good friend of mine, Harry Hoffner, was a Hittitologist. Chicago. I mean, you can now get a Ph.D. in Hetonology, which scholars around the turn of the century said didn't exist. What happened? They found a place called Hattusha. I'd have been there, up in the north of Turkey, in which they discovered an amazing kingdom that was premier in the ancient world. I mean, how could they have missed this, these scholars who know everything? How could they miss this? The thing is, you don't always find what you're looking for immediately. Sometimes it takes a lot of spade work to find something significant. And it's not the fault of the Bible, it's not the fault of history, it's the fault of not having done the work to locate the things the Bible's talking about. It's a long, difficult procedure that you know of, having done excavation as I have. It doesn't jump out of the ground. No, no, you have to work. If we had hundreds of billions of dollars and could excavate a big hunk of the ancient Near East with all that money, we would be amazed at what's underneath the ground. It just takes time and money and and knowledge to know how to go about the process. And sometimes it's by accident. I was telling you about what Scott said to me. He said this little thing that he found that's become so significant about the blessings and cursings thing in Mount Evil. He said it was on the fourth washing. We hadn't seen the inscription. He says on the fourth washing of this little thing, we saw the inscription. What if he had said, ah, just a piece of junk? Oh, yeah. And we'd never know about this artifact. We're talking, by the way, about the Mount Ebal curse tablet. You can look that up in the news, a small piece of lead that was found on Mount Ebal that we believe relates to Joshua, his ceremony there that was done on Mount Ebal. Right. Phenomenal finds, so little, but so important. There's so much more, though. Like I said, if we had hundreds of billions of dollars, it's amazing what we would find, but you can't find people giving that kind of money to do archaeology. You have to have dedicated people and knowledgeable people. It's not just enough to be enthusiastic about something. It's also important to have knowledge about things. what we're talking about today. We're talking about the book, the Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology, talking with Dr. H. Wayne House, who is a great contributor to this work. The book you can find on swrc.com at our bookstore. You can give us a call at 1-800-652-1144. 1-800-652-1144. We are going to continue this discussion tomorrow. We're going to talk a little more about biblical history and archaeology with Dr. House, and we're going to talk about the book. Dr. House, thank you for joining us today. We look forward to talking with you tomorrow as well. Same here. God bless you. More fascinating insight into the world of biblical archaeology is coming up on our next program. The Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology allows you to explore significant archaeological discoveries pertaining to every book of the Bible. Anyone looking for a current and comprehensive biblical archaeology resource needs to look no further. The Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology provides a wealth of information that supplements the historical context of the Bible, providing a window into the past that will enhance your understanding and enjoyment of biblical text. The Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology by Randall Price and Wayne House is available today. Order your copy when you call 1-800-652-1144. That's 1-800-652-1144. You can also order at our website, swrc.com. A book-by-book guide to archaeological discoveries related to the Bible. The Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology. 1-800-652-1144. June 7th and 8th in Cincinnati, our first ever Mysteries of the Bible Verse event will take place. Micah Van Hus welcomes pastor and teacher Michael Hoggard to the microphone now to preview what he will be speaking about at the upcoming Mysteries of the Bible Verse event in June. I'm Micah Van Husk. I produce Marginal Mysteries here at Southwest Radio Ministries. This summer, we are having our very first conference dealing with the mysteries of God's universe. I'm talking about the Mysteries of the Bible Verse Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 7th and 8th of this year, 2024. You can sign up at SWRC.com and MarginalMysteries.com. Here with us today, we have Pastor Michael Hoggard, who will be speaking at the Mysteries of the Bible Verse Conference. Pastor Hoggard, how are you today? I'm doing wonderful today, Micah. I've got a little bit of allergies, this being springtime, but other than that, doing good. Let's talk about what we are going to be talking about. You've got two topics, I've got two topics. Start by giving us a quick idea of what you're talking about when it comes to Spirit Realm UFOs. The first topic I'm going to be dealing with is, I call it Sightings, the Sightings series, and it basically is dealing with either photographs digital photos or video or film or digital video captures of what we would call poltergeist activity. You and I had a fascinating discussion on this topic. If folks want to search for that at SWRC or Watchman on the Wall, wherever you listen to it, whether that's Spotify or iHeartRadio, that was April the 29th and 30th. Pastor Hager and I did almost an hour discussion on this topic. It was fascinating. And you will be able to hear, better than just going and searching the old ones, come on out to the Mysteries of the Bible Verse Conference. this year in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 7th and 8th, where we will talk about the topics that your Sunday school teacher did not talk about. Our lineup of speakers is Derek Gilbert, Rudy Landa, Michael Hoggard, Greg Patton, Mac Dominick, Josh Davis, and myself, Micah Van Hus. And at the conference, I will be speaking on two topics, the Earth as it was, where we talk about dinosaurs, the Earth as I speculate it was before the flood of Noah, the firmament overhead, the canopy theory, creation, all kinds of fascinating topics when it comes to the earth, the antediluvian world before the flood of Noah. I will also be speaking on my newest book, Secret Societies. I will be giving a presentation on that, about what I believe is going on behind the scenes, all the way from the antediluvian world to the book of Revelation. So we cover a long span of time in the Secret Societies book and their origins. But again, come on out to the Mysteries of the Bible Verse Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 7th and 8th. You can sign up at swrc.com and marginalmysteries.com. Go to the events page and sign up for the Mysteries of the Bible Verse Conference. Pastor Hoggard, we've got about a minute left. Why don't you tell us whatever you want to tell us about the demonic realm and the sightings, but also how we can get a hold of you. The second topic I'm going to be talking about in Cincinnati will be dealing with UFOs and how there is 100%, there's no doubt in my mind whatsoever, that the increase in sightings, the increase in interest, the increase in what Congress is trying to do as far as dealing with the UFO issue and so on, that's all in preparation for a last-day showdown with what Paul referred to as principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places. And what I'm saying is, yes, absolutely, that everything related to the UFO phenomenon definitely is spiritual related. In other words, these are spirit entities. They are evil angels, familiar spirits, unclean spirits, gods with a little g and so on. They are not here for mankind's benefit. They're here for mankind's destruction. I believe that there is an agenda to create a hybrid race that consists of humans and these what the world calls extraterrestrials, and that word simply means they're just beyond the earth, that's all it is. And so I believe that that, for the most part, is the plan behind that. Now, we'll have videos that Southwest Radio is going to be offering, but I'm going to try to speak on things that are not in the video. So those who attend the conference should get some extra information that would not end up being on any of the videos we've done so far. They can find me, look for Michael Hoggard on YouTube, go to sermonaudio.com slash Bethel, or they can write me at pastormichaelonline at gmail.com. Come on out to the Mysteries of the Bible verse and hear Pastor Hoggard and myself and a number of other speakers June 7th and 8th in Cincinnati, Ohio, swrc.com, events, or marginalmysteries.com. Immerse yourself in the world of the Bible with the Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology. Go inside the Bible for a book-by-book guide to archaeological discoveries related to the Bible. The Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archaeology allows readers to visit ancient sites and historical places while remaining in the comfort of their own homes. The Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archeology is available today. Order your copy when you call 1-800-652-1144. The Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archeology provides a wealth of information that provides a window into the past that will enhance your understanding and enjoyment of biblical text. The Zondervan Handbook of Biblical Archeology 1-800-652-1144. Tomorrow, Wayne House continues taking us inside the exciting world of biblical archaeology. Be sure to tune in on your favorite radio station by downloading our SWRC mobile app or by subscribing to our daily Watchman on the Wall podcast. Watchman on the Wall is a production of Southwest Radio Ministries and is supported by faithful listeners like you. Visit SWRC.com. 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