I tend to hold back on my immediate response when it comes to certain stories. It gives me time to gather facts and watch developments. I have had concerns about Hank Hanegraaff in the past and I began following this story last month. Christian Research Institute (CRI) President Hank Hanegraaff is now the focus of a federal criminal mail and wire fraud investigation. Hanegraaff posted an “urgent memo” fundraising appeal letter on CRI’s website. You can read the memo here.
Hanegraaff’s letter blames “novice employees” at the local Rancho Santa Margarita Post Office in Southern California for a “bizarre error” that may have cost CRI “perhaps in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Hanegraaff claims that CRI’s mail was diverted to the wrong post office box run by another company. He then begs for contributors to send CRI a “sacrificial” gift to help get through the crisis.
However, the officer in charge at the post office where CRI receives its mail disputes Hanegraaff’s allegation. The officer claims it never happened and referred the incident to the United States Postal Service’s Inspector General’s Office, which has begun looking into the case. In the letter Hanegraaff, who is a popular author and broadcaster of "The Bible Answer Man Broadcast" heard internationally, also claims to have set up a special 1-800 hotline at CRI to help deal with the problem. However, the phone number Hanegraaff provided in the letter was not a hotline at all. It is simply a toll-free number to CRI that walks listeners through a menu, while a commercial for Hanegraaff’s recent book “The Covering” plays in the background. Further, the Post Office said CRI never complained to them about the alleged diversion of letters to another box and they had nothing in their file about the supposed incidents. Yet, Hanegraaff’s letter states the post office “has accepted full responsibility for this error and has fixed the problem.” The United States Department of Justice said penalties for mail fraud are up to five years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine. Federal penalties for wire fraud are the same. CRI transmitted the same letter from Hanegraaff to its worldwide "CRI Update" weekly E-mail list on Jan. 17, 2005 and letters were also sent by U.S. Mail.
10 comments:
My memory isn't the greatest, but didn't Marty have an item in the past 12 months about CRI/Hannegraf being investigated for some other possible financial mis-handlings? Or was that item just exposing the level of lifestyle HH has built for himself?
Do you recall?
Yes. It was about Hank using CRI funds for personal use. He refunded the money but he never acknowledged it or appoligized. There was a young lady that was fired from his office for speaking up about the whole thing..
Neither of your comments on CRI and Mr. Hanegraaff are complete in facts. I suggest a more in depth account lest you become accused of being one of those slanted reporting types only bent on a personal goal. As reported on your own station, Hank Hanegraaff is one of the most persecuted Christians in the world today. A by-product of an effective ministry.
I suggest any misstep would be amplified for someone in the public eye. This holds true for you as well. I will pray that you will remain unbiased in your reporting.
I wonder out loud if CRI's positions on Catholicism has had any effect on your impartiality. A follow up would indeed be prudent. If Hank is dirty, he should go. But if not then reports like these can be very damaging. I can't help feeling that there is a certain fervor in your posting.
Thanks for posting your comments. That what this site is all about. However, I do take a bit of offense to your accusations. I suggest you re-read the opening lines of my post. I waited two weeks to gather facts. My faith has nothing to do with this story. I have no bias against Hank or CRI. You may think I can pick up the phone and spark a federal investiagtion but it's just not the case. This is the second investiagtion into CRI. My reporting is unbiased. You are free to look into the details of both cases and come to your own conclusion. I suggest you start with the original story of the young lady fired by Hank for raising questions about the financil practices of CRI.
You will find it here:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/008/6.19.html
Please let me know your conclusion.
Shaun,
I do hope that this new allegation about Hank proves to be false. I do enjoy listening to him and I feel as if he is a genuine Christian and would have much to loose if caught in such a scandal. And as another poster said, those with strong ministries do get lots of accusations leveled at them. I too will keep my eyes open on this one. I was thinking about subscribing to his newsletter and now you have given me room to pause and think about that for a bit more. And I will have to see if he sent me one of those "urgent memos", as I have given some money to his ministry recently.
Randy G.
Thanks Randy. I'm not out to destroy the man. I have nothing against him. However, to much is given, much is expected. You must avoid even the appearance of misdealings. One of the major problem here is that Hank will not even respond to these charges. Again, read the article form last year and then look at these new allegations and form you own conclusion.
Considering how Hanegraff makes attacks on unorthodox Protestant faiths rather regularly I find his legal troubles rather interesing.
Sad to hear about the Bible Answer Man. Sooooo discouraging. Seems to me like there's just too much there for it to be as some have suggested: a good man getting persecuted for telling the truth. No. It's one more guy I can trust. Too bad. I was sitting down here for a little devotional time, something that I don't do nearly enough, and I'm at a place where I have all kinds of doubts and questions and I really need and want some answers, and so I Google the man, and I find all these links about him taking a six-figure income and breaking laws, and firing his workers when they find out the truth and try to bring it to light. What a sick and sad irony that is! I'm increasingly feeling like there is no one but God himself who I can trust, and yet that's not comforting, because God is silent, and I'm not smart enough to understand the Bible by myself, nor am I strong enough to go it alone. Bummer of a discovery, this one.
I hear you, Scott. Very well articulated.
wow - i realize this was back in 2005 --- but was there any further developments with this -- was Hannegraff confirmed as having dealt unethically
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