Hank Hanegraaff

Hendrik "Hank" Hanegraaff is an American author, radio talk-show host and advocate of evangelical Christianity. He is an outspoken figure within the Christian countercult movement where he has established a reputation for his criticisms of non-Christian religions, new religious movements or cults and perceived heresies within conservative Christianity. He is also an apologist on doctrinal and cultural issues. He was born in the Netherlands and raised in the United States since childhood. He is married with nine children.

Hank Hannegraaff in St. Louis, Mo. August 30, 2007.

Career

Prior to becoming a leading figure in the Christian countercult movement, Hanegraaff was closely affiliated with the ministry of D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Presbyterian church in Florida. During his association with Kennedy in the 1980s, Hanegraaff applied memory-based techniques (such as acrostic mnemonics) to summarise strategies, methods and techniques in Christian evangelism. His work bears resemblances to memory dynamics techniques developed in speed-reading courses and in memory training programs used in some executive business courses. During the late 1980s Hanegraaff became associated with Walter Martin (1928-1989) at the Christian Research Institute (CRI), the conservative Protestant countercult and apologetic ministry which Martin founded in 1960. After Martin's death from heart failure in June 1989, Hanegraaff became president of CRI. As part of his role as ministry president, Hanegraaff assumed the role from Martin of anchorman on the radio program The Bible Answer Man. Hanegraaff also became a conference speaker and itinerant preacher in churches, pursuing the general ministry charter of CRI. Shortly after the release of Dan Brown's fiction novel, he co-authored "The DaVinci Code: Fact or Fiction?" with Lutheran apologist Dr. Paul Maier. His most recent publication to date is "The Apocalypse Code: Find Out What the Bible REALLY Says About the End Times...and Why It Matters Today", from Thomas Nelson, 2007.

Word-Faith movement

Cover from the British edition of Christianity in Crisis

In his 1993 book Christianity in Crisis, Hanegraaff charged the Word-Faith movement with heretical teachings, saying that many of the Word-Faith groups were "cults", and that those who "knowingly" accepted the movement's theology were "clearly embracing a different gospel, which is in reality no gospel at all."^[1]

In the best-selling book, Hanegraaff addressed five areas of doctrine under the following headings:

• Faith in Faith - a critique of Faith teaching on faith as a "force"
• Little Gods or Little Frauds? - the charge that the Faith movement teaches promotes man (and Satan) to godhood and demotes Christ
• Atonement Atrocities - a critique of the supposed teaching that Christ became "satanic" on the cross and was "born again" in Hell
• Wealth and Want - a critique of the movement's teachings on prosperity
• Sickness and Suffering - a critique of the movement's teachings on healing

He also made much of the Faith teachers' alleged tendencies to rely on visions and other experiential phenomena rather than Scripture alone. Hanegraaff, who in Christianity in Crisis pointed out the rather lavish lifestyles in which many "Word-Faith" teachers lived, now lives in gated communities and is a member of exclusive golf clubs. He has been accused of nepotism for allowing family members to benefit from donations to CRI, by buying them cars and other high-ticket items. Today, Hanegraaff's income is estimated to be in the six figure range; Dr. Walter Martin was paid only $30,000 per year when he headed CRI.

Counterfeit Revival

Hanegraaff revisited some of the same issues in his 1997 book Counterfeit Revival, in which he rejected the claims of many Pentecostal and charismatic teachers such as Rodney Howard Browne concerning what became known as the Toronto Blessing. The Toronto Blessing was associated with the Vineyard church located at Toronto airport, and was characterized by spontaneous and sustained outbursts of bodily phenomena such as laughing, crying, animal noises, and dancing. The proponents of this blessing believed this was a special time of refreshing bestowed on churches by the Holy Spirit. A different set of phenomena and claims subsequently emanated from churches in Brownsville, Pensacola, Florida, and became known as the Brownsville Revival. Hanegraaff accused the leaders of the movement of using hypnosis and manipulation. Despite its warm reception by evangelicals, the book (as well as Christianity in Crisis) was harshly criticized by many Pentecostal and Charismatic leaders such as Don Williams,^[2] William DeArteaga^[3] and Michael L. Brown.^[4] Counterfeit Revival was criticized in Christianity Today magazine's review of the book. The review, while acknowledging that Counterfeit Revival "exposes some real excesses and imbalances" in the Toronto Blessing, also states that Counterfeit Revival is a "misleading, simplistic, and harmful book, marred by faulty logic, outdated and limited research".^[5]

Worldwide Church of God

Throughout the 1990s, Hanegraaff engaged in dialogue with Joseph Tkach, Jr. and other leaders of the heterodox Worldwide Church of God (WCG). The WCG was founded in the 1930s by Herbert W. Armstrong, and had long been regarded as a cult by evangelicals, primarily for its denial of the Trinity and other traditional Christian doctrines. Following Armstrong's death in 1986, the group re-evaluated many of its teachings, including the British Israel doctrine and various eschatological predictions. Hanegraaff was one of a handful of evangelical apologists - along with, e.g., Ruth A. Tucker (author of Another Gospel), and members of The White Horse Inn - who assisted in the reforms. The biggest changes, and certainly those most necessary to ensure their acceptance among evangelicals, were in accepting the doctrine of the Trinity and Salvation by Grace through Faith. The story is told in the 1997 book Transformed by Truth by Joseph Tkach, with a foreword by Hanegraaff. The book, now out of print, is posted chapter by chapter on the WCG Web site.^[6]

Other apologetic works

Hanegraaff has also defended the historicity of the Resurrection of Christ in print and on radio, and has been outspoken against the theory of Evolution, in favour of creationism. Hanegraaff is noted for his belief that Biblical inerrancy can be proven on a rational basis. He has also followed his predecessor, Walter Martin, in opposing what he describes as "pseudo-Christian" cults, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, and Mormons. In recent times he has co-authored three novels with Sigmund Brouwer.

Controversies

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the . This section has been tagged since December 2007.

Hanegraaff has been a figure of controversy since he assumed the presidency of CRI. Several staff members who worked under Martin quit CRI shortly after Hanegraaff's ascension. Reportedly, thirty former staff formed a lobby-support network known as the Group for CRI Accountability, and the group tried to meet with Hanegraaff in the spirit of Matthew 18 [2]. Hanegraaff reportedly refused to meet. Those involved in this network leveled a number of claims against Hanegraaff's administration of CRI, alleging misuse of funds and plagiarism in his books. In the mid 1990s a wrongful dismissal law suit by an ex-CRI staff worker was settled out of court. More recently the Evangelical periodical Christianity Today has carried news items concerning allegations about CRI's financial management, and of a looming law suit against a Christian critic of the ministry. One accountant at CRI reportedly attempted to confront Hanegraaff regarding wrongful use of ministry funds for personal use. The accountant was released, allegedly because of the confrontation. The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability temporarily removed CRI from their approved list, but later, after CRI promised to clean up their act, reinstated CRI without public comment. Martin's widow, Darlene Nesland Martin, and eldest daughter Jill Martin-Rische have made public calls for Hanegraaff's removal from CRI[3]. Martin's daughter and son-in-law run a ministry that perpetuates Martin's ministry known as Walter Martin's Religious Information Network. The public nature of this dispute between Hanegraaff and Martin's family was reported in April 2000 in the Los Angeles Times (see "Other Relevant Sources" below), and is evidenced by the fact that in 1997 Hanegraaff was general editor of a posthumous edition of Martin's book, The Kingdom of the Cults. However, in 2003 an entirely different edition of the book was released that had Ravi Zacharias as general editor with editorial supervision from Jill Martin-Rische. Hanegraaff detractors cite the "unauthorized" takeover of the presidency of CRI and a decided change in the direction of the ministry as their primary grievances. Others challenge his ethics of citing old quotes out of context to brand other ministers as heretical, even when the quotes have since been retracted and the ministers have changed their views. In the past, one of Hanegraaff's sayings was that of Thomas Aquinas, that we, as Christians, should not major in the non-essentials of the Christian faith. However, as Hanegraaff continues to criticize various Christians and Christian ministries almost to the point of naming them as heretics, his circle of friends has become smaller and smaller. Today, his circle of friends apparently numbers two or three: Joni Erickson Tada, Lee Strobel and Max MacLean. Hanegraaff has recently focused on sales of Bible reference materials, including his own "Legacy Bible." Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have also taken issue with Hanegraaffs methods and scholarship, pointing out numerous errors in CRI's coverage of Mormonism (for example, see: Answering the Bible Answer Man and Can Mormons Be Considered Christians?) While CRI is an instrument for selling Hanegraaff's books, it has overlooked a number of topics in regards to cults and various charismatic leaders, such as the "Emerging church," Jose Miranda, and Gene & Melissa Scott. On other occasions, a simple "fact sheet" is written, such as that on Arnold Murray and The Shepherd's Chapel, when numerous articles and in depth investigations could have been written for those in the counter-cult movement. CRI's talent was also absent in the investigations and questionable practices of Mike Warnke, Bob Larson and Lauren Stratford. As the battle over CRI continues under Hanegraaff's leadership, CRI has continued to have a steep decline in support. CRI's magazine, The Christian Research Journal has also suffered a steep drop in subscriptions. Despite Hanegraaff's claim of it being "an award winning magazine," many who subscribed for years continue to cancel their subscriptions. Other ministries have also suffered in their support from evangelicals as a result of CRI's mismanagement of financial resources as they became jaded in their outlook as well. Perhaps one of the most amazing things about Hanegraaff's rapid rise to the top of CRI in so short of a time period is that he has absolutely no formal education (A.A., B.A., M.A., Ph.D. or Th.D.)in Bible & Theology. Not even a course in apologetics, basic theology (Theology 101) or biblical hermenuetics. Hanegraaff also lacks any training in Greek, Hebrew or the Aramaic languages. However, Hanegraaff makes it a point to derisively mock those who have had far more biblical teaching and training in their exegesis of scripture. For example, he criticized Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins for their "Left Behind" series, and their exegesis of the book of Revelation in his book "The Apocalypse Code(TAC)," almost to the point of calling them heretics. Even author Kim Riddlebarger ("The Man of Sin"), who reviewed Hanegraaff's Apocaplype Code said it had a "snotty, condescending" tone to it(see http://reformedevangelist.com/?p=494). Dillon Burroughs (John Ankerberg ministries) also notes that it (TAC) "relies heavily on personal attacks," yet no reason is given as to why. Several years ago, Hanegraaff also criticized his former mentor, Dr. D. James Kennedy for his understanding of what many call "The Gospel in the Stars." However, he proved to be far from willing to debate the issue with Kennedy at all. While Martin's controversies centered on what was said theologically, such as his stance on "The eternal Sonship of the Son (Jesus Christ)" Hanegraaff's controversies surround his leadership style. Dr. Matin also never used an ego-centric phone number (1-800-ASK-WALT) to promote his Bible Answerman program. Hanegraaff does just that with 1-888-ASK-HANK. Martin also welcomed disagreement on non-essentials, whereas Hanegraaff does not. Hanegraaff even goes so far as to name his acronyms "Hankronyms." On numerous occasions each year, callers are also asked to hold their questions in regards to the Bible, cults or apologetics and instead take an opportunity to call in and praise Hanegraaff in some way. A financial donation is then strongly urged as well. Martin, on the other hand, often bristled at the thought of such grandstanding. On several occasions during his speaking engagements, Hanegraaff has been asked where the name "The Bible Answerman" originated. Hanegraaff never mentions it ever belonging to Dr. Martin, or who coined it in the first place. On at least one occasion (July 13, 2007 broadcast of the Bible Answerman program), a caller (the last one of that night) mentioned Dr. Martin and his book "The Kingdom of the Cults" as being a great help to her. She then went on to praise Dr. Martin's research. The caller was soon was cut off in claiming that they were out of time. However, Hanegraaff and his guest host then went on for 3-5 minutes praising Hanegraaff. On a December 20th edition of the Bible Answerman program, a caller asked where any actual Mormon documents were in regards to their belief that Jesus and Satan were brothers. For Martin, this would have been as easy as citing John 3:16. However, all Hanegraaf could do was cite that "it's on the internet." Hanegraaff has also taken CRI from being the foremost authority on cults and apologetics to a "Christian Resource Institute" primarily bent on selling Hanegraaff's products. For example, for years after the death of Dr. Walter Martin, Hanegraaff never mention Martin's book "Kingdom of the Cults" as being an effective source for information on Mormonism or Jehovah's Witnesses. However, immediately after publishing a new edition of "Kingdom of the Cults," which incidentally he edited and added information on the "Word-Faith" movement, Hanegraaff made sure to point out as a tool in the hands of Christians. Today, he makes no mention of it, despite it being republished several years ago by Martin's daughter and son-in-law. While Hanegraaff may use key phrases found in Martin's book, such as "scaling the language barrier," (one of the titles to a chapter in Martin's "Kingdom"), he never points out where that phrase is found. Hanegraaff is a master at promoting his own works. For example, there are currently at least two books refuting "The Secret." While Hanegraaff mentions having written a gospel tract in response to "The Secret," he fails to mention the books, which would far more of an in-depth analysis than any gospel tract. In regards to "The Bible Code," Hanegraaff mentions his book, but fails to mention another written by John Weldon around the same time. Whenever he is asked about a specific cult, doctrine or theological stance, Hanegraaff always says "I deal with that in my book...," despite their being dozens of books by other authors with far more theological training and explanations other than "we ought to be so familiar with the truth that, whenever a counterfeit looms on the horizon, we know it instantaneously." When he is not using acronyms, Hanegraaff also uses rhymes, such as "the main and plain things of scripture" in order to explain deep theological issues. Also ironic is the fact that Hanegraaff is silent in mentioning other ministries dealing with cults (except when selling a select few in exchange to a donation to CRI). For example, he never mentions John Ankerberg's ministry (despite Ankerberg's speech during Martin's funeral in which Ankerberg prayed for Hanegraaff), Personal Freedom Outreach, MacGregor Ministries, Spiritual Counterfiets Ministry, Religion Analysis Service, Christian Ministries International (Ron Carlson) or a host of other effective ministries dealing with cults and apologetics. Hanegraaff also never mentions many of those who formerly worked for CRI (e.g. Robert Bowman or Craig Hawkins) and either sided with Martin's family, accused him of plagarism or questioned his leadership style and/or abilities, indicating that he is far from "burying the hatchet" or forgiving his brother in Christ. On August 14, 2006, Hank Hanegraaff filed a Friend of the Court brief on behalf of the Local churches - a move [4] seen as controversial by a number of Christian apologists and countercult ministers, most of whom consider the Local Church to be a heretical sect or, in some cases, a cult. In his book "The Apocalpse Code," Hanegraaff also makes the false argument that Christians who side with Israel are guilty of condemning an entire race, namely the Arabs, and more specifically the Palestinians. This is an error. Islam is not a race, but rather a religion. Not only are there Muslims who are Arabs, but there are also Asian, Caucasian and Africans, just to name a few, who are Muslims as well. Furthemore, some are also Persian (i.e. Iranians), which is an entirely different "race" other than Arab. Kim Riddlebarger (mentioned above) also makes an excellent point in that preterist's, such as Hanegraaff, are forced into painting themselves into a corner by his assumptions in The Apocalypse Code. By arguing that all of these events took place prior to 70 A.D. in Apocalypse Code, Hanegraaff goes against a number of biblical scholars who agree that the book of Revelation was in 85-90 A.D. In an effort to avoid this embarrassing conflict, Hanegraaff is essentially a "partial-preterist." One of the other discrepancies with Hanegraaff's "The Apocalypse Code" is that it is mainly an anti-thesis to Tim Lahaye's "Left Behind" series. While Lahaye is cited well over 50 times, very few commentaries on the book of Revelation are cited. While Hanegraaff notes that Lahaye has studied prophecy "for over 50 years," Hanegraaff has not. Another difficulty with holding to preterism is the fact that many, if not all, will often use the principle of allegorical, as well as literal hermenuetics, often within the same verse of scripture. When asked about Oneness Pentecostalism, Hanegraaff has, on numerous occasions, said the man who received the 1913 revelation regarding the new baptismal formula linking Acts 2:38 with Matthew 28:19-20 as John Shlepp. Actually, his name is John Schaepe (pronounced "Sheppy," according to Oneness author David Bernard). Perhaps this would be understandable if it were done by any other amateur apologist. However, Hanegraaff authored 2 books on Pentecostalism ("Christianity in Crisis" and "Counterfiet Revival"), and often claims to have researched Oneness Pentecostalism. Hanegraaff also covered Pentecostalism's birth in his book "Counterfiet Revival."

Recent developments

Hank Hanegraaff is still President of the Christian Research Institute, which had been located in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. But in mid-2005 Hank and his family moved the institute to Charlotte, North Carolina. The reason given for the move was lower operating costs.

Books

• Hank Hanegraaff (1993). Christianity in Crisis. Eugene: Harvest House Pub. ISBN 0-89081-976-9. 
• Counterfeit Revival (Dallas: Word, 1997).
• The FACE That Demonstrates the Farce of Evolution (Nashville: Word, 1998).
• (General editor), The Kingdom of the Cults (Minneapolis: Bethany, 1997).
• Millennium Bug Debugged (Minneapolis: Bethany, 1998).
• Resurrection (Nashville: Word, 2000).
• The Prayer of Jesus (Nashville: Word, 2001).
• Fatal Flaws (Nashville: Word, 2003).
• Bible Answer Book (Nashville: J. Countryman, 2004).
• (with Sigmund Brouwer) The Last Disciple (A Novel), (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 2004).
• (with Sigmund Brouwer) The Last Sacrifice (A Novel), (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 2005).
• The Apocalypse Code: Find Out What the Bible REALLY Says About the End Times . . . and Why It Matters Today (Thomas Nelson, 2007)
• (with Sigmund Brouwer) Fuse of Armageddon (A Novel), (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 2007)

See also

• Christian countercult movement
• Category:Cults
• List of anti-cult organizations and individuals
• Partial Preterism

References

Other Relevant Sources

• "Apologetics Ministry Resolves Wrongful Termination Suit," Christianity Today, September 11, 1995, p. 88.
• Marshall Allen, "Christian Research Institute accused of naive bookkeeping" Christianity Today, July 14 2003 p 19.[5]
• Stan Guthrie, "Christian Research Institute sues Longtime Critic," Christianity Today April 11 2005.[6]
• "Casting Stones: Questions About Radio's 'Bible Answer Man' Are Coming From Within," Los Angeles Times, April 15, 2000.
• Letter to Editor by Darlene Nesland Martin, "Hanegraaff Wasn't Handpicked," Los Angeles Times, (Orange County Edition), April 30, 2000.
• Walter Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1965; revised in several editions published by Bethany House in 1967, 1977, 1985, 1997 and 2003).
• J. Gordon Melton, "The counter-cult monitoring movement in historical perspective," in Challenging Religion: Essays in Honour of Eileen Barker, edited by James A. Beckford & James T. Richardson, (Routledge, London, 2003), pp. 102-113.
• Larry Nichols and George Mather, Discovering the Plain Truth: How the Worldwide Church of God Encountered the Gospel of Grace (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1998).
• Joseph Tkach, Transformed By Truth (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah, 1997).

External links

• Christian Research Institute
• CRI breaches three of the ECFA's seven standards of responsible financial stewardship
• Archive of Bible Answerman shows
• Financial critique of Hank Hanegraaff
• Criticism of Hanegraaff by the Walter Martin estate
• CRI employees fired for questioning Hanegraaff's lavish lifestyle