Hank Hanegraaff and Confusions
By Julio
Severo
Was Hank
Hanegraaff, a prominent apologist against the Prosperity Gospel, raised in a
Calvinist or Arminian home? Was he brought to Christ in a Calvinist or Arminian
church?
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| Hank Hanegraaff being received in the Greek Orthodox Church |
Brazilian
Calvinist theologian Franklin Ferreira thinks that the answer is Arminian. He said in his Facebook page,
“Hanegraaff was
a prominent popular apologist and wrote one of the best books against the
prosperity ‘gospel,’ ‘Christianity in Crisis,’ published in Brazil by CPAD
(which launched other four of his books). He was Arminian, and in spite of
critical of the Reformed view (there are audios and texts by Hanegraaff
published by the website Society of Evangelical Arminians), he joined forces
with Calvinists to fight the heresy of the prosperity message.”
Even
though CPAD is a Pentecostal and Arminian publishing house, a book published by
them is no proof that the author is Arminian. If so, John MacArthur, a strident
cessationist Calvinist theologian, would be an Arminian. MacArthur has several
books published by CPAD.
Yes, the
Society of Evangelical Arminians mentioned Hanegraaff as an “Arminian
author” in recent years.
So was
Hanegraaff raised in an Arminian home? Was he brought to Christ in an Arminian
church? Was the main influence in his life, before his apologetic ministry,
Arminian?
In
the website of the Christian Research Institute (CRI), its own director, Hanegraaff,
affirmed that he
is not an Arminian. CRI defends Calvinism in several of its articles.
The
Theopedia website says
that “Hanegraaff was born in the Netherlands and raised in the United States in
the Christian Reformed Church.”
Theopedia
explains
that “The Christian Reformed Church… has roots in the Dutch Reformed churches
in the Netherlands, but find their true Reformed roots in John Calvin from the
Reformation.”
Rev.
D. James Kennedy, of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, said
decades ago,
“Hank was
brought to Christ through the ministry of this church, of which he then became
a member. I employed him some time later at Evangelism Explosion International
in the Development Department. It was here that he learned his basic knowledge
of the Scriptures. Here that he learned to evangelize. Here that he learned
Mnemonics, the science of memory. It was
from here and from me that he learned most of the things needed to get the
position that he now holds.”
With
this strong Presbyterian background, Hanegraaff became the president of the
Christian Research Institute.
With
this strong Presbyterian background, Hanegraaff became an apologist against the
Prosperity Gospel.
The
surprise is not that he began to call charismatics “heretics.” Eventually, he
called even his former pastor D. James Kennedy a “heretic” too. As quoted by
the Walter Martin Ministries Blog, Kennedy said,
“In conclusion,
much of what Hank has learned he learned at this church and through my other
ministries. I have tried in every way to be helpful to him. I have also endeavored
to be gracious in spite of the many letters I have received accusing him of
plagiarizing my book. In spite of all this, for some reason, totally
unbeknownst to me, he has started attacking me on his public radio program. And
as I just recently heard, has now had the temerity to call me a heretic. I have
been called all manner of names by the enemies of the Cross, but one name I
have never been called before is heretic. Given my 42 years of ministry, almost
50 books that I have published, the thousands of radio and television programs
which have been broadcast here and around the world, it is almost laughable to
think that we must wait until this late date to have it discovered by no less a
scholar than Hank Hanegraaff that I am a heretic.”
This
is the problem of Calvinism and its environment, especially of the cessationist
variety: baseless wars and accusations of “heresy,” which ultimately hits
everyone.
Franklin Ferreira said that Hanegraaff
allied himself, apparently as an outsider, to Calvinists to fight the “heresy”
of the Prosperity Gospel. Actually, he was not an outsider. He was inside the
Calvinist camp!
The
Calvinist camp has not been hit by the Prosperity Gospel. In fact, the major
problems affecting Presbyterian churches are abortion and sodomy advocacy. No
one of these problems, including theological liberalism, are caused by the
Prosperity Gospel. All of them are caused by the Social Gospel, which is
similar to the Theology of Integral Mission, which is the Protestant version of
Liberation Theology.
So instead of fighting internal
problems that directly affect them, many Calvinists prefer directing their
attacks to external problems not affecting them.
Hanegraaff
began by demonizing ministers of the Prosperity Gospel and eventually demonized
his own former Presbyterian minister… Confusion leading to confusion.
Not
only Calvinist churches in Europe, U.S. and Brazil are suffering from socialist
theological influences, but the whole Brazilian society is also suffering from
socialist influences.
If Calvinist or Reformed eyes
cannot see the reality, through Bible or supernatural vision, which many of
them reject in their cessationist unbelief, God will use a “stone” (a
non-Christian mind) to see and cry out. This is what is happening.
This
week, Rodrigo Constantino, a Brazilian conservative secular and non-Protestant writer,
published an article titled “Democracy and the Prosperity Gospel,” written by Claudir
Franciatto, who said,
“While the large
part of the Brazilian society that is not evangelical restricts itself to call
ministers, bishops and apostles of neo-Pentecostal (charismatic) churches ‘thieves’…
[those ministers, bishops and apostles] are bringing to Brazil — secretly and imperceptibly
— certain ‘Anglo-Saxon spirit’ of courage, pioneerism and positive individual
attitude, which shaped a nation like the United States. This spirit was and is
very necessary.”
Claudir
added,
“Neo-Pentecostal
ministers do not stimulate members to pray and remain sitting on their pews,
but to act — within and outside the church.”
Yet,
evangelicals cannot accept this “Anglo-Saxon spirit” of courage, pioneerism and
positive individual attitude, because Hanegraaff, Ferreira and other
theologians influenced by a cessationist Calvinism think and preach that the
Prosperity Gospel is “heresy.”
If it
is easy for Ferreira to call the Prosperity Gospel a “heresy,” can he call the
Social Gospel or the Theology of Integral Mission a heresy?
Can
he call cessationism a heresy? Theological liberalism (with its aftermath of
abortion and sodomy advocacy) thrives on unbelief of a living and supernatural
God working today.
Based
on the Society of Evangelical Arminians, Ferreira said that Hanegraaff is an
Arminian. Hanegraaff denied it. This is confusion.
Actually,
when the Society of Evangelical Arminians said in recent years that Hanegraaff
was an Arminian, he was already in the process of conversion to the Greek Orthodox
Church. In fact, Christianity Today said
that his move to the Greek Orthodox Church took a decade. So it is no wonder
that in 2011 he denied that he was a Calvinist.
Hanegraaff
was raised and trained in Reformed and Presbyterian environments to attack the
Prosperity Gospel and other charismatic issues not affecting this environment. This
is confusion.
After
years calling charismatic ministers “heretics,” he eventually called his old
Presbyterian minister a heretic too! This is confusion.
Jill
Martin Rische, daughter of Walter Martin, who founded the Christian Research
Institute in 1960, said
about Hanegraaff,
“Shortly after
my father, Walter Martin, died in 1989 his ministry was taken over by a man who
we later discovered had a disturbing habit of ‘borrowing’ other people’s work
and claiming it for his own.”
This
is confusion.
When he became the president of the
Christian Research Institute and wrote “Christianity in Crisis,” which attacks
the Prosperity Gospel, Hank Hanegraaff had come directly not from an Arminian
or Pentecostal church. He came directly from a Presbyterian church.
Now,
he is in the Greek Orthodox Church.
Be it
as may it, Hanegraaff did not leave cessationist Calvinism and its influences now.
He did it years ago. He did not begin to attend the Greek Orthodox Church now.
According to Christianity Today, he did it many years ago. The only new thing is the formal
announcement that now he is an Orthodox Christian.
More
confusion?
Portuguese version of this
article: Hank Hanegraaff e confusões
Source: Last Days Watchman
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