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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ChurchMilitant.com) - Hank Hanegraaf, the nationally syndicated host of the radio talk show program Bible Answer Man, is being booted off a radio network after his conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy.

He's been a major influence in the Protestant world, in particular in the area of countering cult movements such as Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons. On Palm Sunday, Hanegraaff was chrismated at St. Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Hanegraaf has been on Bible Answer Man since 1989, and the program was being broadcast on the Bott Radio Network (BRN).

Following Hanegraaf's conversion to Orthodoxy, BRN canceled the program. BRN President Richard P. Bott II said to the Baptist Press regarding the decision, "We want to make sure that our listeners know that the programming that we have on Bott Radio Network is thoroughly Biblical."



Hanegraaf's largely Protestant social media following has been abuzz with criticism since the news brok. Examples of comments on the BAM Hanegraaf's largely Protestant social media following has been abuzz with criticism since the news brok. Examples of comments on the BAM Facebook page include:

"Hank, do you believe we are justified by faith alone, in Christ alone? Because your church doesn't. Why would you join such a church?"



"Where does the Bible say to pray for the dead? It doesn't nor should we pray to Mary or the saints. False teaching."



"All sola scriptura denied. Marian and icon veneration. Prayers to dead saints ... Dr. Walter Martin must be turning in his grave over what has been done with CRI."



"I am saddened and confused as to how someone whose teaching I have trusted for many years can now place himself in the camp of those who espouse praying to and kissing statues of dead people. Please, Mr. Hanegraaff, don't add insult to injury by trying to convince your listeners that your beliefs haven't changed."

Hank remarked on his radio program, "People are posting this notion that somehow or other I've walked away from the faith and am no longer a Christian. Look, my views have been codified in 20 books, and my views have not changed."



Hanegraaf's change of religion isn't the first time he's drawn criticism from other Protestant groups. Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis, which runs the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter attractions in Kentucky, wrote an article in 2013 in which he criticized Hanegraaf and accused him of "abusing Biblical truth."

Hanegraaf's conversion isn't the first time an Evangelical has converted to Orthodoxy. Evangelical pastor Peter Gilquist, who died as an Orthodox priest in 2012, and several of his associates in the 1980s converted along with their entire congregations (17 in all, consisting of 2,000 people) to the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America.

Well-known Catholic apologist and convert Scott Hahn described a conversation he had with Gilquist in his widely read book Rome Sweet Home, which details Scott's own research, consideration and rejection of Orthodoxy on his way to Catholicism. Frank Schaeffer, son of the widely known fundamentalist pastor Francis Schaeffer, converted to Eastern Orthodoxy during the same time. Schaeffer, then a conservative Republican, later changed both his politics and religious views, supporting Obama for president in 2008 and writing a book in 2014 entitled Why I am an Atheist Who Believes in God.



Orthodoxy is fraught with varying opinions on matters including contraception, divorce and the recognition of ecumenical councils. While some Orthodox recognize the first seven councils prior to the 1054 A.D. schism, others recognize two additional Orthodox councils — the Fourth and Fifth Councils of Constantinople. The true Fourth Council of Constantinople of the Catholic Church was held in 869 A.D., 10 years before the Orthodox Fourth Council in 879 A.D. Orthodox Churches, known as Oriental Orthodox and which include Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean and Syriac churches, only recognize the First Council of Nicea, the First Council of Constantinople and the First Council of Ephesus.



According to the Orthodox Church of America (OCA), the OCA not only grants divorces, which enable both parties to remarry a second and third time in cases of adultery, but "adultery" is defined in such a way as to include addictions to drugs, alcohol or work, as well as infatuations and obsessions with people besides one's spouse.



Regarding the question of birth control, OCA says Orthodoxy declares that "those means of controlling conception within marriage are acceptable which do not harm a fetus already conceived."

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