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Calls For Hank Hanegraaff The “Bible Answer Man” To Resign After Converting To Greek Orthodox Religion

Can Hank Hanegraaff continue to be the “Bible Answer Man,” after converting to the Greek Orthodox Church last spring? Many people are saying no.

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Can Hank Hanegraaff continue to be the “Bible Answer Man,” daily answering questions about faith and practice posed by a largely evangelical Protestant audience of radio listeners after converting to the Greek Orthodox Church last spring?

“And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,” 2 Corinthians 6:16,17 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: When I first got saved back in the early 1990’s, Hank Hanegraaff was one of the first radio Bible expositors I listened to. He had a great radio voice and spoke with great conviction, but as I continued to study the Bible I quickly came to understand that Hanegraaff was teaching Replacement Theology. Not only that, he wasn’t a Bible believer, he was a Bible corrector. So it’s with wry amusement that I see today’s story of his conversion to ‘Roman Catholic Lite’, the Greek Orthodox church. Another false teacher goes home to “mother church”, the Roman and Greek Catholic harlot of Revelation 17. 

Hank Hanegraaff believes so, contending that in the spirit of “mere Christianity,” he remains a defender of the essentials of the faith. But family members of the founder of the organization he leads, the Christian Research Institute, are calling on him to resign. They argue in a statement it is “fundamentally dishonest” for Hanegraaff on CRI’s call-in radio show to try to reconcile Protestant doctrinal principles such as “sola scriptura” — the Bible is the sole rule of faith and practice — with the Eastern Orthodox belief in the on-going, Spirit-led authority of church tradition.

Jill Martin Rische, a daughter of the late CRI founder — renowned cult expert Walter Martin — was one of six family members to sign a statement urging Hanegraaff to resign. Hanegraaff has led CRI since 1989, when Martin, who founded the organization in 1960, died at the age of 60.

Famous Protestant, “Bible Answers” Hank Hanegraaff converts to Orthodoxy

Rische told WND she’s in no position to judge Hanegraaff’s faith but contends he can no longer promote the mission established by her father with integrity.

“If Hank’s joined the Orthodox Church, that’s his decision. Fine, teach Orthodox theology. Go create an Orthodox ministry,” she said. “But don’t think that you can do that and still run an evangelical Christian ministry. It’s not right.”

Rische leads Walter Martin Ministries with her husband, Kevin Rische, who both signed the statement urging Hanegraaff to resign. They were joined by her mother, Elaine, and siblings Daniel, Elaine and Debbie Martin. Her sister, Cindee Martin Morgan, whose husband, Rick Morgan, is CRI’s webmaster, did not sign the statement. She told the Christian Post her father would argue the Eastern Orthodox Church holds the “core” doctrines of Christian faith.

WND reported in April Hanegraaff’s confirmation to his radio audience that he had gone through the conversion ceremony of chrismation (“the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit”) on Palm Sunday at a Greek Orthodox Church near his home in Charlotte, North Carolina.

WND asked for an interview with Hanegraaff, but his spokesman, Stephen Ross, said he has been unable to respond due to his health. Hanegraaff revealed in May he has mantle cell lymphoma, a rare form of cancer, and has been undergoing aggressive treatment.

Why Hank Hanegraaff made a big mistake:

Ross gave WND a previous statement by Hanegraaff addressing the question of whether or not his conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy is in conflict with the mission of CRI.

“I am and have always championed ‘mere Christianity.’ Or as I publicly repeat again and again, ‘In essentials unity, non-essentials liberty, and in all things charity,’” Hanegraaff said.

He noted that CRI had spent the month of June promoting Southern Baptist leader Russell Moore’s book “Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel,” in which Moore states the body of Christ “is wide and broad and deep, and each tradition brings with it some aspects that bless the others, and the wider world, even when we disagree with much else.” Moore points to teachings that have benefited Christians of every tradition that come from Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Pentecostal traditions, among others.

“CRI has always stood and will continue to stand fast on the essentials, and with love and charity discuss secondary matters of the faith while steadfastly encouraging unity in the midst of diversity when it comes to non-essentials,” Hanegraaff said.

‘I don’t know how you can blend the two’

Rische told WND any comparison of the beliefs of evangelical Christianity with Eastern Orthodoxy show substantial differences.

“So, I don’t know how you can blend the two in any way. We’ve been separate for centuries,” she said.

The Eastern Orthodox Bible has an additional 17 books written during the time period between the Old and New Testaments that Protestants call the Apocrypha, believing they are not inspired and, therefore, have no authority.

Rische said the Eastern Orthodox Church would be the first to say “that we’re completely different.”

“So, I find it puzzling why Hank’s bishop is allowing him to take this strange doctrinal mix and teach it on the ‘Bible Answer Man’ program,” she said.

Rische said she has not heard Hanegraaff answer on the air specifically whether or not he supports “sola scriptura,” the authority of Scripture alone, and “sola fide,” salvation by faith alone. She also pointed out that every CRI employee must sign a statement of faith based on evangelical doctrine.

Rische posted an essay with a chart comparing key doctrines and beliefs.

In the family members’ statement, they write that they “believe CRI’s founder, Dr. Walter Martin, would be appalled” by Hanegraaff’s conversion.

“In his teachings on Roman Catholicism, Walter Martin categorized Evangelical Christians who convert to Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism as ‘apostate’ — believing a different gospel,” they write.

“CRI was founded on the absolute authority of the Bible and salvation by faith alone, doctrines the Eastern Orthodox church denies.”

They call on Hanegraaff to “immediately cease teaching Eastern Orthodox doctrine on the Protestant Bible Answer Man program, and step down from the leadership of Christian Research Institute.”

“To do anything less, from a Biblical perspective, is unethical and profoundly dishonest,” they say.

Two Christian radio networks, totaling 120 stations, have dropped the show: the Truth Network and the Bott Radio Network, which has more than 100 stations in 15 states. That exodus reduced the number of stations to 60, but CRI’s website currently shows only 40 stations carry the show.

After airing the show for more than 25 years, the Bott network’s president, Richard P. Bott II, told the Baptist Press he dropped it because “we want to make sure our listeners know that the programming that we have on Bott Radio Network is thoroughly biblical.”

Hanegraaff told the Observer he found that statement painful, revealing “an ignorance about Orthodoxy.”

The Web-based Orthodox Christian Network now carries the show and features a “partnership” with Hanegraaff that includes a podcast called “Hank Unplugged.” The June 9 episode of the podcast is titled “How Orthodoxy Saved Me.”

Disillusioned with evangelicalism

When Hanegraaff disclosed his membership in the Eastern Orthodox Church, he said he and his wife, Kathy, and two of their 12 children had “found a church community that has greatly benefited from the work of the Christian Research Institute.” Hanegraaff observed that he and his wife had been “more in synch spiritually” over the past 10 years than at any other time in their marriage.

“I have been typically more skewed towards truth, and, quite frankly, Kathy more skewed towards life,” he said. “But today we are on precisely the same page, in life and in truth, and we’re loving it.”

“This is a very wonderful time in our life and ministry, and so daily we thank God that he has saved us by grace alone through an active faith in our dear Lord Jesus Christ who has done all that we might experience life now, and experience life in the age to come.”

In a feature by the Charlotte Observer in June, Hanegraaff talked about his journey to the Orthodox Church.

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.”

Via the Web, he discovered St. Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church in southeast Charlotte.

“I opened the door of that big cathedral. And the moment I did, the sights, sounds and smells engaged me,” said Hanegraaff, referring to the icons, chants and incense. “I thought, ‘I’m here to worship God. This is not about what I’m going to get.’ ”

In April, when his conversion was announced, Eastern Orthodox blogger John Sanidopoulos said he was “astounded” to hear the news of Hanegraaff’s membership in his church, adding it was “something I had always hoped for him, but never really expected.”

But Jeff Maples, who blogs for a Christian apologetics site Pulpit and Pen, echoed some of the unfavorable buzz on the Web, writing Hanegraaff “has left the biblical Christian faith for Greek Orthodox tradition.”

“The Orthodox Church is a false expression of Christianity, much like the Roman Catholic Church, that is highly driven by graven images and denies the biblical doctrine of salvation by grace alone through faith alone, and instead, trusts in meritorious works and a sacramental system for salvation,” Bridges wrote.

Two Christian apologists who have been personally acquainted with Hanegraaff told WND at the time they don’t see any reason to think the Bible Answer Man has abandoned his faith, but they have concerns.

Michael Brown, Ph.D., who has served as a visiting professor for numerous evangelical seminaries, including Fuller and Gordon Conwell, said: “As far as I know he’s still affirming all of the fundamentals of the faith, but I look at it as more negative than positive, because it would put too much emphasis on church tradition that could then take us away from the authority of Scripture.”

James White, the director of Alpha and Omega Ministries, an evangelical Reformed Christian apologetics organization based in Phoenix, Arizona, was a contributor to the Christian Research Institute Journal when the organization was based in Southern California and was a guest on Hanegraaff’s show.

He 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,’” White said.

Historic strengths

In the CRI statement provided to WND, Hanegraaff said one of his organization’s “historic strengths has been its autonomy.”

“It doesn’t have to genuflect before any particular denominational doctrine and its ability to discern and critique from a position of independence is a great freedom clearly not available to all,” he said.

He said Christ’s prayer for unity in John 17 is not “unity at all costs, but a unity focused on essentials that continues to remain a distant dream because of the theological tribalism and thinly veiled arrogance that continues to pit one branch of the church against another.”

Hanegraaff said that if the body of Christ “proves incapable of unifying around essentials and achieving the elusive maturity that would enable us to see diversity in non-essentials as something undeserving of contention and vilification, we may well deserve the pain that will most certainly be amplified on multiple social and cultural fronts.” source

 


 

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8 States To Ban Gas-Powered Cars As Rush Towards UN Agenda 2030 Comes Into View Forcing Our Global Society Into An End Times Dystopia

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8 states are planning to BAN the sale of gas-powered cars entirely – after Biden unveiled ambitious plans to phase them to comply with UN Agenda 2030

We saw our very first Tesla Cyber Truck in the wild yesterday, as we were pulling out of our local Buc-ee’s after filling up our gas-powered Jeep Wrangler with low-priced fuel. If your state doesn’t have a Buc-ee’s, you are absolutely missing out, but I digress. We spotted the Tesla Cyber Truck turning at the light and coming towards us, and it was at that moment it was again confirmed to me, for perhaps the thousandth time, we are living in the last days and watching the coming dystopia rising with frightening speed.

“And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.” Genesis 49:1 (KJB)

The Tesla truck looks a lot like what they imagined vehicles in the Tribulation would look like in movies such as A Thief In The Night and A Distant Thunder. That is to say an amateur design on a low budget, that’s the first thought I got when I saw it, and it made me silently chuckle. The second thought that hit me was that it looks a whole lot like the type of vehicle that, when they come to haul off believers in Jesus to the concentration camps, it will be a vehicle that looks a whole lot like a Tesla Cyber Truck. It wasn’t funny at that point, as you might imagine. If the Lord tarries, we will soon find ourselves living in a dystopia where gas-powered anything is outlawed, meat is gone, personal privacy a thing of the past, and all the rest. As you read this, 8 states are preparing to outlaw gas-powered cars, with many more to follow. Texas and Florida will be the last two hold outs.

Educate yourself on the UN Agenda 2030 mandate, because you will soon be living under it. Now would be a good time to remind the Lord of the Rapture.

Gas-powered vehicles will soon be outlawed as America complies with UN Agenda 2030

FROM THE DAILY MAIL UK: At least eight states are planning to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars in the next decade – and others are considering joining them. Only zero-emission vehicles can be sold in participating states beginning from the 2035 model year, according to the Advanced Clean Cars II legislation.

The rule, which was first adopted by California, means that automakers and dealerships would be banned from selling new gas cars in these states from that point onwards. Americans will not be forced to take their gas-powered cars off the road, however, and will still be able to buy used and secondhand gas vehicles. These states have gone further than the latest federal legislation announced last week, where the Biden administration released new rules to gradually phase out gas cars by 2032.

The new federal legislation requires automakers to reduce the tailpipe emissions of new vehicles by around 50 percent from model year 2026 to 2032.

In order to achieve this, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is targeting 35 percent to 56 percent of vehicles needing to be EVs by 2032, and 13 percent to 36 percent needing to be plug-in hybrids by that date.

It was initially proposed that two thirds of all cars sold by 2030 would need to be EVs, but the brakes were put on that plan last week, giving a concession to carmakers and giving them more ways to comply. But carmakers will eventually stop making full gas-powered successors to the beloved muscle cars of the 1960s and 1970s under Biden’s new edict. According to personal finance site Money, California was the first state to adopt the Advanced Clean Cars II rule, which will put a complete ban to new sales of gas-powered cars by 2035.

Plans in the state, which is run by governor Gavin Newsom, specify that 35 percent of all new car sales will need to be zero-emission by 2026, rising to 68 percent by 2030.

Rhode Island was the most recent state to join the list of states pledging to ban the sale of gas-powered cars, joining Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington. According to the site, the District of Columbia has also made the commitment. Other states have adopted versions of the legislation, but not yet pledged to ban gas-powered cars entirely by that date. READ MORE

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORTTO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

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End Times

A Massive Security Fence Ordered To Surround The Capitol As Pretend President Joe Biden Prepares To Attempt The Teleprompter For SOTU 2024

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A massive fence will ironically surround the Capitol while President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union address on March 7, as federal government issues highest possible security level

Oh, the irony! As Barack Obama prepares to give the State of the Union SOTU 2024 speech through pretend president Joe Biden, the federal government has assigned its highest possible security status to the event with a massive security fence having been put up last night. We don’t need walls and fences on our southern border to keep out illegal alien strangers, but we do need walls and fences to prevent the American people from getting too close to the Capitol building. If we are not a nation on the brink of civil war, I’ll eat may hat.

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.” Proverbs 29:2 (KJB)

I won’t be watching the State of the Union address, my King James Bible has already informed me what our true state actually is, we are a drop of a bucket. We already know that the actual president, Barack Obama in his third term, has written the words that will come across Biden’s teleprompter. The only question is can he successfully navigate and deliver those words in a coherent and rational way? I’m thinking not. My heart hurts for the shape America is in in 2024, it’s a hot mess and about to get hotter and messier. In the meantime, enjoy the Third World fence around the capitol of the most-powerful nation on Earth. I wonder if the State of the Union will be addressing that, probably not.

Security fence goes up at Capitol for State of the Union address

FROM GAZETTEXTRA: The Capitol Police Board on Friday approved the installation of the fencing. A security fence went up around the Capitol for last year’s State of the Union speech. The State of the Union is designated as a National Special Security Event, the highest security status the federal government can assign to an event. These are determined by the size, scope and potential threat profile.

U.S. Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said people should expect to see a heavy law enforcement presence around the Capitol complex. He noted that there will be technology, plainclothes officers and support teams.

The agency is working with Capitol Police, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department, the FBI, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and dozens of other federal and city agencies, Guglielmi said.

The House sergeant-at-arms led a briefing earlier this week that included representatives from the Pentagon, White House and several other agencies and stakeholders on security preparations for the event, a source familiar with the briefing said. READ MORE

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORTTO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

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End Times

US Power Grid Is Starting To Fail As The Relentless Energy Demands Of Clean Technology, Data Centers, EVs And Crypto Mining Are Pushing It To Blackout

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Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories proliferate around the country, leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation’s creaking power grid.

Do you ever wonder if our leaders here in America are really as stupid as they appear to be, making decisions that are absolutely asinine in their totality? Or, is all this a calculated and carefully crafter agenda to bring down our nation in a ruinous heap? Today we ponder our insane rush to clean technology and electric everything while at the same time possessing a power grid that is unable to comply with the demands made on it.

There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.” Ezekiel 22:25 (KJB)

Back in November of 2023, Barack Obama released the dystopian end times movie ‘Leave The World Behind’ which shows you how a nation obsessed with electric vehicles and technology winds up. I might add also that we wind up there because our rogue government has intentionally pushed us to the conclusion, as shown in Obama’s movie. You can’t believe the vast majority of stuff that Obama says, but you can believe him when he shows us America’s future in ‘Leave The World Behind’. Whatever you do, don’t buy into the EV hype, don’t give up your gas stove, and do everything you can to reduce your dependence on electricity as much as possible. The United States power grid is going to fail, only a matter of time.

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Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power

FROM MICROSOFT START: In Georgia, demand for industrial power is surging to record highs, with the projection of electricity use for the next decade now 17 times what it was only recently. Arizona Public Service, the largest utility in that state, is also struggling to keep up, projecting it will be out of transmission capacity before the end of the decade absent major upgrades.

Northern Virginia needs the equivalent of several large nuclear power plants to serve all the new data centers planned and under construction. Texas, where electricity shortages are already routine on hot summer days, faces the same dilemma.

The soaring demand is touching off a scramble to try to squeeze more juice out of an aging power grid while pushing commercial customers to go to extraordinary lengths to lock down energy sources, such as building their own power plants.

“When you look at the numbers, it is staggering,” said Jason Shaw, chairman of the Georgia Public Service Commission, which regulates electricity. “It makes you scratch your head and wonder how we ended up in this situation. How were the projections that far off? This has created a challenge like we have never seen before.”

A major factor behind the skyrocketing demand is the rapid innovation in artificial intelligence, which is driving the construction of large warehouses of computing infrastructure that require exponentially more power than traditional data centers. AI is also part of a huge scale-up of cloud computing. Tech firms like Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft are scouring the nation for sites for new data centers, and many lesser-known firms are also on the hunt.

The proliferation of crypto-mining, in which currencies like bitcoin are transacted and minted, is also driving data center growth. It is all putting new pressures on an overtaxed grid — the network of transmission lines and power stations that move electricity around the country. Bottlenecks are mounting, leaving both new generators of energy, particularly clean energy, and large consumers facing growing wait times for hookups. READ MORE

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORTTO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Continue Reading

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