Posted on 04/19/2017 1:06:44 PM PDT by Gamecock
The "Bible Answer Man" radio show program with Hank Hanegraaff has been booted from Bott Radio Network over concerns regarding biblical accuracy, following Hanegraaff's conversion into the Eastern Orthodox Church.
"We want to make sure that our listeners know that the programming that we have on Bott Radio Network is thoroughly biblical," said BRN President Richard P. Bott II, a member of Lenexa Baptist Church in Lenexa, Kansas, according to Baptist Press.
BRN had reportedly been broadcasting the "Bible Answer Man" since the 1980s, even before Hanegraaff joined the show in 1989.
"We live in strategic times," Bott told BP.
According to an email announcement from BRN, the "Bible Answer Man" is being replaced by new late-afternoon programming featuring various evangelical pastors, such as Jack Graham of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, beginning Monday.
BRN says on its website that it operates over 100 broadcast signals with a combined coverage of 51 million people in 15 states, offering "family quality Christian programming 24 hours a day." The "Bible Answer Man" page could no longer be found on the BRN website.
The Christian Post confirmed last week that Hanegraaff, who is also the president and chairman of the Christian Research Institute, was chrismated on Palm Sunday at Saint Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Some, such as Rod Dreher, an Orthodox Christian and author of the New York Times best-selling book The Benedict Option, told CP last week that the news of Hanegraaff joining the Orthodox Church is "astounding."
"Many evangelicals seek the early church; well here it is, in Orthodoxy," Dreher said.
"I am sure some will be scandalized by Hanegraaff's conversion but I hope at least some will wonder how someone as knowledgeable about the Bible as Hank could convert to Orthodoxy, and go to a Divine Liturgy to taste and see what it's like."
Others, such as Ken Ham and his Answers in Genesis ministry, warned about the points on which Eastern Orthodoxy differs from evangelicalism.
"Many years of missionary work in Eastern Europe and Russia have led me to conclude that the gospel is not often proclaimed in the Orthodox Church. Church services are ritualistic exercises that focus on the icons and the sacraments," Dr. D. Trent Hyatt wrote in a chapter for Answers in Genesis' World Religions and Cults book series.
"It is all too easy to trust in those sacraments to save one and on the icons to sanctify one rather than in the finished work of Christ on the Cross in our behalf," he argued.
AiG explained that it published the excerpt in response to "a number of questions" it received in regard to Hanegraaff becoming a member of an Orthodox Church.
Hanegraaff insisted on his radio show last week that his teachings remain unchanged and faithful to Scripture.
"I am now a member of the Orthodox Church but nothing has changed in my faith I am as deeply committed to championing 'mere Christianity' and the essentials of the historic Christian faith as I have ever been," he argued in an April 10 broadcast.
Hanegraaff, who believes many Christians today are consumeristic and go to church to see what they can get out of it, explained that he was inspired to attend an Orthodox Church over two years ago after he saw how deeply in love Christians in China were with the Lord.
"While truth matters, life matters more," a man told him. He realized that it was not just about knowing Jesus Christ, but also experiencing the resurrected Jesus Christ and he is now more in love with Jesus than ever before.
"People are posting this notion that somehow or other I've walked away from the faith and am no longer a Christian," he said in the following day's broadcast. "Look, my views have been codified in 20 books, and my views have not changed."
Philip Roberts, director for international theological education with the Global Ministries Foundation in Tennessee, suggested that the conversion of the "Bible Answer Man" has raised questions in the evangelical world, however.
"Of course, the roots of Eastern Orthodox theology go back centuries -- even to the ancient creeds, councils and church theologians," Roberts said.
"The problem is what has happened since then in terms of revisions and interpretations in Eastern Orthodox thinking by eastern mystical thinkers" involving "the biblical doctrines of God, Adam, humankind, sin and salvation."
Roberts challenged Orthodoxy's claim to be the "early church" and to represent "the faith of Peter and Paul," and said that while it has roots in the ancient church, its ceremonies and theology have developed gradually throughout the centuries.
The "Bible Answer Man" broadcast is still available at equip.org.
Wow, I must say I am surprised to hear this.
I can understand why they dropped him. I also think there will be plenty of Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters in heaven.
Many will probably be surprised who they see in Heave. Especially is they are looking up at them...
https://www.gotquestions.org/Eastern-Orthodox-church.html
Question: “What is the Eastern Orthodox Church and what are the beliefs of Orthodox Christians?”
Answer: The Eastern Orthodox Church is not a single church but rather a family of 13 self-governing bodies, denominated by the nation in which they are located (e.g., the Greek Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church). They are united in their understanding of the sacraments, doctrine, liturgy, and church government, but each administers its own affairs.
The head of each Orthodox church is called a patriarch or metropolitan. The patriarch of Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey) is considered the ecumenicalor universalpatriarch. He is the closest thing to a counterpart to the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church. Unlike the Pope, who is known as VICARIUS FILIUS DEI (the vicar of the Son of God), the bishop of Constantinople is known as PRIMUS INTER PARES (the first amongst equals). He enjoys special honor, but he has no power to interfere with the 12 other Orthodox communions.
The Orthodox Church claims to be the one true church of Christ, and seeks to trace its origin back to the original apostles through an unbroken chain of apostolic succession. Orthodox thinkers debate the spiritual status of Roman Catholics and Protestants, and a few still consider them heretics. Like Catholics and Protestants, however, Orthodox believers affirm the Trinity, the Bible as the Word of God, Jesus as God the Son, and many other biblical doctrines. However, in doctrine, they have much more in common with Roman Catholics than they do with Protestant Christians.
Sadly, the doctrine of justification by faith is virtually absent from the history and theology of the Orthodox Church. Rather, Orthodoxy emphasizes theosis (literally, divinization), the gradual process by which Christians become more and more like Christ. What many in the Orthodox tradition fail to understand is that divinization is the progressive result of salvation, not a requirement for salvation itself. Other Orthodox distinctives that are in conflict with the Bible include:
The equal authority of church tradition and Scripture
Discouragement of individuals interpreting the Bible apart from tradition
The perpetual virginity of Mary
Prayer for the dead
Baptism of infants without reference to individual responsibility and faith
The possibility of receiving salvation after death
The possibility of losing salvation
While the Eastern Orthodox Church has claimed some of the church’s great voices, and while there are many in the Orthodox tradition that have a genuine salvation relationship with Jesus Christ, the Orthodox church itself does not speak with a clear message that can be harmonized with the biblical gospel of Christ. The call of the Reformers for Scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone, and Christ alone is missing in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and that is too precious a treasure to do without.
The Bible Answer Man hasn’t been the same since the death of Dr. Walter Martin.
For example the concept of "immaculate conception" as a theological idea, generally regarded as unbiblical by protestants and orthodox, was formally codified by the catholic church in the 1850s, but never accepted by protestant or eastern orthodox.
I've heard Hannegraaf criticized over his bible interpretations, so maybe this is an excuse to dump him.
Concur.
All are very unsettling but these 2 would be show stoppers for me.
- The possibility of receiving salvation after death. Hebrews 9:27King James Version (KJV) - 27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment
- The perpetual virginity of Mary - Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?’ And they were offended at him (Mark 6:3) and And he did not know her until she gave birth to a Son; and he named him Jesus (Matthew 1:25). Also Matthew 12 - While he was still talking to the multitudes, . . . one said to him, ‘Look, Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak to you.’
Further apart, actually. The Orthodox reject the Immaculate Conception because they reject original sin per se as understood in the West.
I was introduced to him early on and watch him on Youtube when I have a question about something.
I’ve heard Hannegraaf criticized over his bible interpretations, so maybe this is an excuse to dump him.
.........................
He gets plenty of criticism. More now, after this decision.
Which surprised you: that Hannegraaff is out as “the Bible Answer Man” at Bott or that he decided to join the Orthodox Church?
Does the Immaculate Conception refer to the conception of Mary or the conception of Mary's mother?
I quit listening to him a few years ago, I thought he too freely discounted God’s promises to the Jewish people.
We were grafted onto the vine, we are not the vine. We did not assume the promises to the Jewish people, but we benefit from them through Christ.
His arguments that promises to the Jewish people are now null and void left me cold.
The Orthodox Church part. I had not heard about his conversion.
Aha. So what are your thoughts now that you do, if I may ask?
Kinda makes you wonder just how much the ‘Bible Answer Man’ actually knew. Head knowledge isn’t the same has heart knowledge...
The conception of Mary by her mother, not the conception of Jesus by Mary.
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