Bible Answer Man Broadcast ExcerptsIn December 2009 the Christian Research Institute (CRI) published a special issue of the Christian Research Journal [ download / purchase ] in which it reported some of the findings of a six-year primary research project concerning the teaching and practice of Witness Lee and the local churches. Hank Hanegraaff, President of CRI, participated in the research directly. He was aided by Elliot Miller, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal, and Gretchen Passantino, co-founder and Director of Answers in Action (AIA) and co-author of some of the earliest printed material critical of Witness Lee and the local churches. Both before and after the special issue of the Journal was published, Hank Hanegraaff, Gretchen Passantino, and Elliot Miller discussed their research on the Bible Answer Man radio broadcast. In some of the broadcasts, Hanegraaff was joined by Andrew Yu and Chris Wilde, representatives of Living Stream Ministry, publisher of the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. Audio excerpts of those broadcasts are available on the following pages:
- General remarks about the research project and the conclusions CRI and AIA reached;
- Comments about the importance of employing proper research and apologetic methods;
- Descriptions of the research project participants’ experiences while visiting local churches in China and meeting believers who suffered persecution engendered by countercult ministries in the West;
- Discussion of some of the local churches’ practices, their biblical basis, and their potential benefit to all believers; and
- CRI’s corrections to the shortcomings of an open letter which criticized the teaching and practice of Witness Lee and the local churches.