John Ankerberg announced that Hank Hanegraaff

was to be the hand-picked successor of Walter Martin

at Dr. Martin’s funeral (June 29, 1989) that somehow Ankerberg

must have gotten the information from Martin himself

(this is at least CRI’s inference).

The truth is that Hanegraaff called a board meeting, the morning of the funeral (See my book for details). The information, that the board had voted 2 to 1 to make Hanegraaff the new president, was relayed to Ankerberg. There is absolutely no evidence that Dr. Martin ever told John Ankerberg that Hank Hanegraaff was to be his replacement. 

It should be noted that John Ankerberg  never had Hanegraaff on his apologetics program, “The John Ankerberg Show”. If  Ankerberg was truly convinced, all these years, that Hanegraaff was truly the choice of  the founder of CRI he would have called upon Hanegraaff repeatedly to shower the audience with his vast knowledge of cults, the occult and apologetics. Dr. Martin had been asked by Ankerberg, repeatedly, to be on his apologetics program over the years. However,  Hanegraaff was never asked to be a regular contributor on that show.  Why didn’t, “The John Ankerberg Show” see fit to showcase the protege of Walter Martin? Perhaps you should contact John Ankerberg’s ministry directly for the answer to that.

And how did this marvel of apologetics repay Ankerberg’s kindness in cementing Hanegraaff’s new position at CRI on June 29, 1989?  He aids the cult known as the Local Church in suing Ankerberg’s publisher, Harvest House in 2005 for $136,000,000, by filing a friend of the court brief against the publisher who had just published Ankerberg’s book on cults. 

Remind me to never do a favor for Hank Hanegraaff. With friends like that who needs enemies.

It is true that no one remembers the exact form in which Walter’s
endorsement originally appeared or was intended to appear. It could have
been published in a press release or a direct mail letter, or written for a
newsletter that had yet to be published at the time of his death. After
twenty-two years, two moves, with many files literally buried in storage…,

This is a variation of the “Dog ate my homework” gambit. Miller is saying, this all important quote has been lost for 21 years. They are telling us to trust them because they are, after all, CRI. The fact that they are CRI once meant something when Walter Martin was at the helm but now a promise from CRI and $29.00 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

It is plain to see they get very upset when someone doubts their veracity. But when they have a man like Hank Hanegraaff, who has done the things he has done for over 21 years, most people will need more than, “The Dog ate my homework” to believe they are telling the truth.

Further, in my response I asked for CRI to make available to the Christian cult/apologetic community a copy of the 1988 CRI Newsletter in question. It has been about 6 months since my response was posted on the Religious Research Project website and CRI has failed to release the 1988 issue that would prove that Martin was excited for Hanegraaff to succeed him. This seems like awfully strange behavior for an organization that is so anxious to prove, once and for all, that Martin was squarely behind Hanegraaff for president.

It begs the question: If Hanegraaff is the rightful successor to Martin why did he see a need to create counterfeit quotes by Dr. Martin, seemingly giving his imprimatur to him as the next president?

The truth is when you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar it is always best to say nothing. At this  point the so called, Bible Answer Man has no answers. It is what I expected!

“God has opened unparalleled opportunities to strengthen a burgeoning church in the East. Multitudes embroiled in ancestor worship, animism, folk and world religions have come to embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior. However, while they have come to worship Jesus, many have scant familiarity with His Word. The Christian Research Institute is called to strengthen these fledgling believers in the faith.”

Do we give CRI and Hanegraaff a pass because in his view God has called him to strengthen the Local Church (LC)? Since no one I have spoken within the Christian cult ministry world has altered their opinion of the LC, due to CRI’s defense of the group in their December 2009 journal, CRI’s odd defense can hardly be called a rousing success.  Those in the Christian research field still see the group as theologically dangerous and since many people who leave the LC end up needing therapy to deal with the abuse they experienced (see my comments in other articles on this blog site) the LC shows no sign of being a Christian group. This group’s ongoing treatment of its members, speaks volumes to the unrepentant nature of this group founded by Witness Lee. Hardly a group God wants defended and supported.

But the followers of Hanegraaff are led to believe that God has told him to strengthen the LC and help them any way he can. Since when does God command people to defend wickedness and call wrong right? It appears Hanegraaff is listening to another voice and not the voice of God. The question needs to be asked: When in the last 21 years has he ever listened to God’s voice?

Well we have an equally important moment in history. On January 4, 2010 Hank Hanegraaff exclaimed, on his radio show, that against the counsel of friends and coworkers, he was going to at last come out on his radio show and decimate all those nasty critics that have been attacking him all these years. Then this blustery fellow fell silent. Not a peep, whisper, breath, mutter, squeak, gafaw, gasp, silent scream, nothin’! He’s on the down low.

Come on now Hank, you attack Word of Faith teachers with wild abandon. You even go after Christian leaders like: D James Kennedy, Chuck Smith, Tim LaHaye, Ozzie Osbourne (Well I just made up the part about Ozzie just to see if you were paying attention) when it benefits you some how. Hank you promised to blow the doors off your critics back on January 4th. That was nearly four months ago?!?

Could it just be you can’t come out and play because you don’t want the Christian world exposed to the seamy side of CRI and all your sin for the last couple of decades?

What’s that Hank? I can’t hear you, your saber is rattling too loud!

Now to my little tale for today. It just so happens I have my very own swarm of Piranha fish or to be more accurate, Piranha People (It sounds like a 1950′s SciFi movie doesn’t it?) following me around on the internet (thank you Al Gore!). One of the main fishys is a young woman that goes by the name of, Cindee Martin Morgan. She has a website at www.waltermartinjude3.com. You can go there and find about how she is being persecuted terribly by people like me; who think that Hank Hanegraaff lied and connived to take over the Christian Research Institute in 1989, along with a whole host of other sinful behavior that he has never repented.

You see, gentle reader when you have written a book entitled, Hard Questions for the Bible Answer Man every nut bunny who belongs to the, “Hank Hanegraaff is godlike and I will really mess-up anyone who says otherwise” fan club will get a major case of “kill the messenger” fever. Not that any of these up standing citizens would ever do me bodily harm. No, they are having too much fun calling me every name in the book and  calling those who have read and defend the material in the book, ‘terribly misguided, biblically undiscerning, unchristian, nonmattheweighteeners’. Why one young man even exclaimed that,  how could anyone trust me and what I have written about his hero Hank because (horror of horrors) I sell things on my website: www.focusonthefaulty.org . You see with this vast array of irrefutable logic, brilliant analysis (Though every critic of my book, so far, has told me they have never read my book and many have said they would rather have their tongue cut out and buried in the sands of the Sahara than look at my book. Critics, ya gotta love ‘em!) and deftly thought out argumentation coming against me, what chance does little ol’ me have?

 If you go to the Amazon.com page where my book is advertised and, for instance, click on dear Ms. Martin Morgan’s review of my book (She gave me  one star. Now I heard she asked Amazon if she could give a negative 592 rating to my book but they told her nyet) you will see many of the Piranha People’s tracks. This type of bizarre behavior and verbal vitriol has been going on for months. I am sure Hanegraaff would be pleased with his fan club’s extracurricular activities. But for me all I can say is, ‘does anyone have a can of Piranha repellant handy’?

Originally my book was to be coauthored by a friend. However, he had to drop off the project and did not write the chapters he was planning. One of those was the chapter on how the CRI office in Canada, that had started some ten years before Walter Martin had died, was decimated by Hanegraaff in the mid 1990s. This was  after the director in Canada and staff began to realize the things they were hearing about the lawsuit of Brad Sparks against Hanegraaff and the damage that Hank had done to dozens of CRI staff who were fired without any actual cause (except for realizing how inept Hanegraaff truly was, due to his almost universal lack of knowledge in the areas that CRI specialized in) were true. Unfortunately, my friend had done the research on the CRI-Canada problems and I would have had to delay for months the publishing of my book to come up to speed with the information. Therefore, I did only a cursory treatment of the Canadian issue in my book.

A couple weeks ago my contact in Canada (a former CRI-Canada researcher) sent me a copy of a CRI-Canada board meeting minutes dated 11-12-1994. In the meeting that was attended by the Canadian board, Hank Hanegraaff, and Sealy Yates (Hanegraaff’s attorney from the US); the board asked Hanegraaff a series of questions about what they had been hearing of his problems down under in California.

One of the questions was why Stan Tonnesen left the board, after some 20 years of working with Martin, after Hank took over? Here was the response made by Hanegraaff , recorded in the minutes :

Re: Stan Tonneson [sic] leaving CRI’s board. This was during the 1990 coup. Everett Jacobson voted him off the board after having sat with him for 26 years on the board. Craig Hawkins tried to oust Hank and accused him of being demon possessed after Hank returned from a trip to Brazil.

Darlene Martin replaced Stan Tonneson [sic]. Stan offered a full apology and it was accepted however they agreed to not reinstate him because it was  felt that it would de-stabilize the board.  

First, if you wish to know the truth of Hanegraaff’s distain for Craig Hawkins, read the letters by Craig Nelson and Anthony Horpel found  starting on pages 45 and 57 respectively in my book (hint: Craig never accused Hank of possession). It had nothing to do with this fairy tale coup that Hank was trying to sell to the Canadian board. 

Second, Stan Tonnesen has written me a response to Hanegraaff’s absurd allegations (dated 3-11-2010). The following is the unedited content of his letter:

Dear Jay,

Thank you for sending me page 4 of the Nov. 12, 1994 Canadian Research Institute minutes, pertaining to me, which refers to  a 1990 coup attempt, IS A FLAGRANT LIE (emphasis in original letter). I took letters with me to show Hank the great concerns that the researchers and other staff members had for his irrational behavior (for our board meeting in Georgia). Hank said he would not hear their concerns and then he pulled out a letter he wanted me to sign. The letter stated I had to agree with everything Hank said and did (100%). After working with Walter Martin for more than 20 years, in a wonderful Christian Manner, being totally loyal to God’s word and will, I told Hank I could not be signing such a statement and walked away from the meeting – resigning from the CRI board. Since that time I have not spoken to Hank and NEVER (emphasis in original) “offered a full apology that was accepted” – Another lie.

I write you this note to confirm his paranoid behavior to demean anyone who raised a question about his actions, and give you permission to use this note if you need verification – to refute such lies. Keep up the good work in sharing that truth; so more believers in Christ will not be deceived.

Sincerely your,

Stan Tonnesen

Stan’s letter needs no comment from me. So once again people are going to have to decide who is telling the truth about Craig Hawkins and Stan Tonnesen’s statements about his leaving the board. Who is being truthful here:  Stan Tonnesen or the old leopard who has been shown through my book, and a host of other people to lie with impunity, over the last 20 years, when it benefits his agenda? Because as we all know, Truth Matters. Now, where have I heard that phrase before?

In this episode called, The Road to Wickenburg Paladin finds himself visiting a town called, Wickenburg and  is robbed of his gun, horse and $1,000. Within the first few minutes, it is revealed that the peaceful and innocent town of Wickenburg is run by a ruthless and quite corrupt sheriff and his 4 associates who happen to be related to him. This cadre of less than stellar citizens are behind the theft of Paladin’s belongings and what is more, they have done the same to many others.

The town of peaceful people reminded me of those individuals who continue to support Hank Hanegraaff and are totally in the dark about his unChristian behavior over the last 20 years. His constant pushing for larger and larger salaries, his bad treatment of CRI staff, his plagiarism of Dr. D. James Kennedy’s book Evangelism Explosion, and the other equally reprehensible  activities that are painfully recounted in my book, Hard Questions for the Bible Answer Man.

When people in authority become corrupt and use their office for their own selfish desires as the sheriff and his relatives did in this episode of Paladin or Hank Hanegraaff has done for the last 20 years as the head of CRI, many people suffer. I further believe that the integrity of the office itself will suffer for years to come, as trust is rebuilt, even after the corrupting influence is removed.

At the end of the episode, Road to Wickenburg Paladin becomes the agent  by which  the corrupt sheriff and his cronies are removed. In Hank Hanegraaff’s case, he will someday answer for his evil deeds to God Himself . Unfortunately, for Mr. Hanegraaff, his reckoning will not come at the end of a fictional television program.

http://www.examiner.com/x-27802-Televangelism–Pop-Christianity-Examiner~y2010m2d17-Christian-Research-Institute–fighting-a-battle-on-two-fronts?cid=email-this-article 

Mr. Hunter claims in an incredibly general statement that all the issues I bring up in my book have already been answered. However,  just a few days ago, Paul Young of CRI claimed that CRI was preparing a response to my book. So which is it, CRI has already answered the problems I reference in my book or they are still working on a response?

Please notice that Mr. Hunter gives the same type of answer that a couple others have stated after a fashion: All my issues have been answered  several years ago by CRI to people’s satisfaction. He fails to mention any of the issues I bring up or exactly how CRI went about answering the problems. Is this the best CRI can do? “We have answered all the problems raised but we don’t plan to tell you how we did it.” Since CRI has, since it’s inception, been extremely proficient at answering the public’s questions with seeming ease, why can they not directly answer my questions from the book and satisfiy those who are also asking the questions?  Are you satisfied with CRI’s answers?

You should also know that 2 years ago I created a 2 CD set called, “Is Hank Hanegraaff the Rightful President of CRI?” It was based on some of the material I had put together for my book.  I had delivered this same information in a lecture, March 2008, at the EMNR Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. I placed the CD set on my website: www.focusonthefaulty.org for sale in March of 2008. Within 2 weeks I received a credit card order from a man named Stephen Ross. He lives near Charlotte, NC. There just happens to be a fellow named Stephen Ross who was working as Hank Hanegraaff’s personal assistant in 2008. Just a coincidence?  Therefore, it is apparent they have had 2 full years to answer the issues on the CD set but there has been no public release of their answers. My book has been out for just 6 months but those CD sets contain a large amount of the book and should have been responded to by now.  I continue to look forward to the CRI report and not this form of personal attack found in Mr. Hunter’s internet article, trying to pass it’s self off as an answer.

Now a little history lesson on CRI’s speed of preparation for important responses. The most recent: Hanegraaff said The Local Church came to his office in 2003 (probably not the entire church body) and asked for help to vindicate them from the “C” word label. It took Hank, Gretchen and Elliot from 2003 to 2010 to prepare their response (see the CRI Journal vol. 32 no. 6 2009). The Local Church would have been better off asking for help from AAA. They at least promise to respond to your  emergency in 90 minutes or less.

The other attempt at answering critics came in August of 2000. Elliot Miller had called a friend of mine and promised that within 2 weeks CRI would publish definitive proof  Walter Martin had asked/promised that Hank would take over the whole ministry someday. My friend never saw the proof and Elliot Miller never called again explaining why the report was never put together. His call, to my friend,  came a little more than a month after I had called CRI in July, at John Stoffel’s (CRI Operations manager at the time) request to talk about the article I was writing on Hanegraaff (see this article at my website: www.focusonthefaulty.org click articles). Stoffel also had me speak to Elliot Miller, who when I asked if there was a letter or an audio recording of Martin offering the presidency to one Hendrik Hanegraaff, Miller replied that none existed. I am left with two possibilities concerning this alleged report Miller was speaking of, either it does not exist (And we have only been waiting 91/2 years) or perhaps Elliot was calling my friend from a parallel universe where time moves exceedingly slow.

I will have to read this answering the critics report when and if it comes out. I love a good exercise in creative writing.