Walter Martin's family demands Hank Hanegraff resign

[biscuit1953]

The family of the late Walter Martin who was founder of the Christian Research Institute has asked for the resignation of Hank Hanegraaff after he converted over to the Greek Orthodox Church. 

From the article:

A few years ago, he found himself growing disillusioned with evangelicalism, pointing, the paper said, to its ?megachurches, its star pastors and its devotion to branding.?

?We live in an age of ?pastor-preneur,? where the pastor is the entrepreneur,? Hanegraaff told the Observer. ?And the church has become consumerist. Instead of Christ being the end, Christ becomes the means to an end. Instead of people coming to the master?s table because of the love of the master, they come to the master?s table because of what is on the master?s table.?

James White said Hanegraaff  ?needs to be up front about the fundamental differences that exist between the world that he was in and the one he is in now.?

?You need to come out to your audience and say, ?Look, I?m not approaching this any longer as a Protestant. I?m not approaching it as an evangelical. I?m approaching it from an Eastern Orthodox perspective, and, yes, my views have changed.'
http://www.wnd.com/2017/07/bible-answer-man-urged-by-founders-family-to-resign/

 

[bruinboy]

Since I have never heard of these people, not sure. However, I will say that HH seems to hit this nail on the head.

?We live in an age of ?pastor-preneur,? where the pastor is the entrepreneur,? Hanegraaff told the Observer. ?And the church has become consumerist. Instead of Christ being the end, Christ becomes the means to an end. Instead of people coming to the master?s table because of the love of the master, they come to the master?s table because of what is on the master?s table.?

 

[biscuit1953]

Since I have never heard of these people, not sure. However, I will say that HH seems to hit this nail on the head.

?We live in an age of ?pastor-preneur,? where the pastor is the entrepreneur,? Hanegraaff told the Observer. ?And the church has become consumerist. Instead of Christ being the end, Christ becomes the means to an end. Instead of people coming to the master?s table because of the love of the master, they come to the master?s table because of what is on the master?s table.?

Many people would agree with that assessment.  However,  should a pastor or church organization that abuses its role in someone's eyes cause them to abandon their core doctrine?  I think of Smellin' who seems to have had a bad experience with "fundamentalism" (as I have and many others) so he rejects historical Christianity and seems to have replaced it with a "My Religion is Do"  which is the religion of every religion on earth except Christianity.

 

[LongGone]

Since I have never heard of these people, not sure. However, I will say that HH seems to hit this nail on the head.

?We live in an age of ?pastor-preneur,? where the pastor is the entrepreneur,? Hanegraaff told the Observer. ?And the church has become consumerist. Instead of Christ being the end, Christ becomes the means to an end. Instead of people coming to the master?s table because of the love of the master, they come to the master?s table because of what is on the master?s table.?

Many people would agree with that assessment.  However,  should a pastor or church organization that abuses its role in someone's eyes cause them to abandon their core doctrine?  I think of Smellin' who seems to have had a bad experience with "fundamentalism" (as I have and many others) so he rejects historical Christianity and seems to have replaced it with a "My Religion is Do"  which is the religion of every religion on earth except Christianity.

I would question what business does the family have in the direction an organization goes after their father's death. They may not like the direction but the Martin influence ended with the passing of Walter Martin. Every Christian will be judged by what God wanted them to do not what the vision of the previous leader happen to be when they had that seat.

 

[brianb]

The family of the late Walter Martin who was founder of the Christian Research Institute has asked for the resignation of Hank Hanegraaff after he converted over to the Greek Orthodox Church. 

From the article:

A few years ago, he found himself growing disillusioned with evangelicalism, pointing, the paper said, to its ?megachurches, its star pastors and its devotion to branding.?

?We live in an age of ?pastor-preneur,? where the pastor is the entrepreneur,? Hanegraaff told the Observer. ?And the church has become consumerist. Instead of Christ being the end, Christ becomes the means to an end. Instead of people coming to the master?s table because of the love of the master, they come to the master?s table because of what is on the master?s table.?

James White said Hanegraaff  ?needs to be up front about the fundamental differences that exist between the world that he was in and the one he is in now.?

?You need to come out to your audience and say, ?Look, I?m not approaching this any longer as a Protestant. I?m not approaching it as an evangelical. I?m approaching it from an Eastern Orthodox perspective, and, yes, my views have changed.'
http://www.wnd.com/2017/07/bible-answer-man-urged-by-founders-family-to-resign/

I didn't know about this but I quit listening to his show long ago.  I listen to shows like Wretched Radio now. 

 

[Tarheel Baptist]

The family of the late Walter Martin who was founder of the Christian Research Institute has asked for the resignation of Hank Hanegraaff after he converted over to the Greek Orthodox Church. 

From the article:

A few years ago, he found himself growing disillusioned with evangelicalism, pointing, the paper said, to its ?megachurches, its star pastors and its devotion to branding.?

?We live in an age of ?pastor-preneur,? where the pastor is the entrepreneur,? Hanegraaff told the Observer. ?And the church has become consumerist. Instead of Christ being the end, Christ becomes the means to an end. Instead of people coming to the master?s table because of the love of the master, they come to the master?s table because of what is on the master?s table.?

James White said Hanegraaff  ?needs to be up front about the fundamental differences that exist between the world that he was in and the one he is in now.?

?You need to come out to your audience and say, ?Look, I?m not approaching this any longer as a Protestant. I?m not approaching it as an evangelical. I?m approaching it from an Eastern Orthodox perspective, and, yes, my views have changed.'
http://www.wnd.com/2017/07/bible-answer-man-urged-by-founders-family-to-resign/

I didn't know about this but I quit listening to his show long ago.  I listen to shows like Wretched Radio now.

I sometimes listen to Wretched as well.
How can you be the Bible Answer Man and Greek Orthodox at the same time? How oxymoronic!

 

[brianb]

What was he before this besides evangelical? I think he attended a Calvary Chapel for a while but after that we don't know.  And this is the guy who always told callers you should find a "healthy, well balanced church".  But what is the definition of that?  We shouldn't be surprised though. This is what happens to someone who has a limited view of evangelicalism. There are plenty of evangelical churches he could go to that are not problematic but he paints evangelicalism with a broad brush. and trades it for a ritualism that can't be found in the Bible. 

 

[Agent P]

What was he before this besides evangelical? I think he attended a Calvary Chapel for a while but after that we don't know.  And this is the guy who always told callers you should find a "healthy, well balanced church".  But what is the definition of that?  We shouldn't be surprised though. This is what happens to someone who has a limited view of evangelicalism. There are plenty of evangelical churches he could go to that are not problematic but he paints evangelicalism with a broad brush. and trades it for a ritualism that can't be found in the Bible.

He was brought up in the Dutch Reformed Church; I believe in the States it's either the Christian Reformed Church or the Reformed Church in America.  He went to Calvary Chapel where he met up with Walter Martin and got into apologetics, as well as selling courses on improving your memory (which is why BAM is so acronym-happy).  After that, he was on staff at a pentecostal Church of God in Atlanta, and then went to work for Martin in California, replacing him upon his death.

TL;DR--Hammerin' Hank Hanegraaff (aka Triple H) has been all over the map theologically over the years.

 

[Walt]

The family of the late Walter Martin who was founder of the Christian Research Institute has asked for the resignation of Hank Hanegraaff after he converted over to the Greek Orthodox Church. 

From the article:

A few years ago, he found himself growing disillusioned with evangelicalism, pointing, the paper said, to its ?megachurches, its star pastors and its devotion to branding.?

I can sympathize with him - there is much in evangelicalism, not to mention fundamentalism, that would disillusion anyone.  I'm not opposed to megachurches, if they are Biblical, but "star pastors" is a terrible thing. I'm not entirely sure what is meant by "branding", but I like churches that are unashamed to say where they stand, and I'm irritated by names that don't tell me anything -- for example, "Living Victory Church" doesn't tell me anything about them -- are they charismatic?  Non-denominational? Are they an entertainment church, with a few Christian words thrown in here and there?

?We live in an age of ?pastor-preneur,? where the pastor is the entrepreneur,? Hanegraaff told the Observer. ?And the church has become consumerist. Instead of Christ being the end, Christ becomes the means to an end. Instead of people coming to the master?s table because of the love of the master, they come to the master?s table because of what is on the master?s table.?

James White said Hanegraaff  ?needs to be up front about the fundamental differences that exist between the world that he was in and the one he is in now.?

?You need to come out to your audience and say, ?Look, I?m not approaching this any longer as a Protestant. I?m not approaching it as an evangelical. I?m approaching it from an Eastern Orthodox perspective, and, yes, my views have changed.'

I agree with the above quotes - there is too much "entertain me" mentality... people come to church to be entertained, not to worship Christ and learn how to honor Him better.

But his solution is wrong - he's going out of the frying pan and into the fire - as far as I can tell, Eastern Orthodox is just Roman Catholicism with the pope.

 

[subllibrm]

I have noticed that the "mega-church" model has given way to the multi-campus model with satellites all over the place. I am not sure how that fits with the instructions from scripture.

How does a man "pastor" thousands in multiple geographic locations?
What is the "body of Christ" link between campus north and campus south (east, west ...)?
Where does "training" a young man like Timothy fit in when the preaching/leading opportunities have been reserved for one?
Since this is so new, what will be the transition plan when Pastor Big moves on or dies?
Whatever happened to planting new churches?

Someone mentioned "branding" and here is how it works; the main campus pastor is essentially creating a denomination in his own image.

 

[Agent P]

The family of the late Walter Martin who was founder of the Christian Research Institute has asked for the resignation of Hank Hanegraaff after he converted over to the Greek Orthodox Church. 


http://www.wnd.com/2017/07/bible-answer-man-urged-by-founders-family-to-resign/

This is like round 36 of this feud between the Martins and Hanegraaff.

For instance, check this from 10 years ago...
http://www.waltermartin.com/2007/12/tim-lahaye-and-hank-hanegraaff-men.html

To which Triple H's minions posted on the CRI site a couple years later:
http://www.equip.org/article/breaking-the-silence-is-hank-hanegraaff-the-rightful-successor-of-walter-martin/

This is just lather, rinse, repeat.  The conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy just gives them ammo for another battle.