by Dr. Clinton E. Arnold
Chairman, Department of New Testament
Talbot School of Theology
December 3, 2002
In chapter one of his recent book, The Covering: God’s
Plan to Protect You From Evil (Nashville: W. Publishing Group, 2002), Hank
Hanegraaff recounts my brief narration of the tragic death of a missionary in
Papua New Guineau. I had told a
one-paragraph fictionalized form of the story in the introduction to the second
chapter in my 3 Crucial Questions About Spiritual Warfare (Grand Rapids:
Baker, 1997), where I modified portions of the story and kept the identities of
the people involved concealed. I
later shared the story in one of the concluding paragraphs of a paper I
delivered at the regional meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in
Portland, Oregon, in which I included the notation:
“Draft copy. For
personal use only. This paper may
not be cited for publication purposes or duplicated without the written
permission of the author.” In that paper I revealed the names of the people
involved in the situation thinking that it was a safe context where my fellow
evangelical colleagues would respect proper academic protocol and not cite the
paper without my permission. I was
mistaken.
Mr. Hanegraaff has now told the story and elaborated on it
in a way that casts me in a very bad light and potentially leaves the reader
with questions about my ethical integrity.
He, in fact, explicitly states that I dropped “the belt of truth” in
my recounting of the story (p. 44). Ironically,
Mr. Hanegraaff knows there
is another side to this story and for some reason he has chosen not to provide a
fair representation of it in his book.
In light of the explicit and implied accusations in his recent book, it is essential that I provide a response. I will do so in a question and response format:
What Exactly is the Situation? The basic facts of the situation
are these: Edmund and Grace Fabian
were in Papua New Guineau working on a translation of the New Testament for the
Nabak people. In 1993 Edmund was
tragically murdered by his translation helper while the two of them were
working, of all things, on a translation of 1 Corinthians 13.
The translation helper, a local Nabak man named Melanongi, had been
hearing voices in his head. During
one of the episodes with the voices, the man grabbed an axe and killed the
missionary translator.
What is Disputed? There is a difference of opinion by those
close to the situation over the source of the voices that the Nabak man was
hearing in his head: were the
voices the result of demonic attacks or was the man suffering from
schizophrenia? I reported the
demonic interpretation of the incident (as
related to me by a Wycliffe missionary in 1995) and Mr. Hanegraaf has reported
the schizophrenic view (which he apparently became familiar with within the last
two years). I was unaware that
anyone held a schizophrenic interpretation of the voices until recently.
Where Did the Idea That the Man Had Been Afflicted By Demonic Spirits Come
From?
Why Didn’t You Report the Psychotic View of the Man’s Condition?
I was unaware that there was another explanation until recently.
The Wycliffe missionary who first reported the account to me was unaware
that anyone had taken a different view. He
was also unaware that Mrs. Fabian now held to a schizophrenic interpretation
when he told me the story.
Why Didn’t You Call and Talk to Mrs. Fabian Before Using the Story? About six months after the September 11th hijackings, I was scheduled to preach in my home church on the Lord’s Prayer. As part of the message, I told the story of Todd Beamer—of his courage in attacking the hijackers and how he recited the Lord’s prayer with the telephone operator. It never occurred to me to call Lisa Beamer, his widow, and ask permission to use the story or ask for clarifying details. This is partly because I trusted that my media sources had it correct (an assumption that is not always safe).
In
a similar way, I trusted the reliability of the account as it was told to me by
a Wycliffe missionary working in Papua New Guineau. I had no reason to doubt his account or think that there was
an alternative explanation that some had come to hold. The obvious problem here was that he was unaware of Mrs.
Fabian’s present view of the situation. In
retrospect, I deeply wish that I had called her and talked to her.
I would certainly have reported her version of the account.
Why Didn’t Mr. Hanegraaff Explain the Demonic View of the Voices? I do not know the answer to that question. He was certainly aware of the other view. When I visited him at his ministry headquarters prior to the publication of his book, I read to him the entire account of one of the missionaries who engaged in deliverance ministry with the translation helper. He chose not to give any of this account in his book.
Whereas
I did not know that Mrs. Fabian or anyone else held a psychotic explanation for
the man’s voices, Mr. Hanegraaff did know that there were others involved in
the situation who held a demonic explanation.
For some reason he chose not to provide a fair representation of that
view of the situation. I told
Mr. Hanegraaff both in person and in a letter that he had an obligation to
represent both sides of this story in his book now that he was aware of both
sides of the story. Here, Mr.
Hanegraaff is guilty of selective citing and failure to present relevant
evidence. He cited only the
testimony and evidence that fit his theory.
His omission places me in a defamatory light, that is, implying that I
can’t get my facts straight.
Is There Any Way to Decide Between These Two Explanations?
When I met with Mr. Hanegraaff, I
told him that given the two competing explanations, the most productive way
forward would be to do a thorough “case study” of the situation.
This would involve doing proper interviews with all those involved in the
situation and with all those who knew the translation helper.
It would also involve reviewing all of the relevant data, including
doctor records, psychological evaluations, police records, etc.
I told Mr. Hanegraaf that, “since you are wanting to raise this episode
to a matter of prominence that could conceivably be heard by millions of people,
I think this is the better course of action.”
What Was Mr. Hanegraaf’s Response?
He gave no response to this suggestion and went forward with the
publication of his book.
Are You Open to a Psychological or Medical Explanation? Yes. It is very difficult to know with empirical certainty if, how, and when a person is suffering from a demonic attack. Thus, I don’t know one way or the other—with any certainty—about the source of the translation helper’s voices in his head. What complicates the matter further is that there is a possibility that it could have been both demonic and psychotic. It is possible that the missionaries effectively dealt with the demonic aspect of his problem, but the man still needed treatment for psychological-biological aspects of his condition. It may not simply have been an either-or situation.
Discerning
all of the possible sources of a person’s symptoms is prerequisite to healing.
This is one of the reasons I team-teach a course on spiritual warfare
with a clinical psychologist and a missionary anthropologist.
We teach our students to be aware of and consider psychological diagnoses
that could easily be mistaken for demonic influence.
Were You Imprecise Anywhere in Your Telling of the Story in the Paper? Yes. I said in the paper that “the organization (Wycliffe) has spent more time and effort considering what steps should be taken when a believer manifests signs of deep-level influence.” Wycliffe, as an organization, has no official position on spiritual warfare and thus has not changed their policy. It can only be said that this situation has prompted certain individuals within the organization to spend more time and effort thinking about the nature of spiritual warfare (illustrated, in part, by a Wycliffe missionary coming to our seminary from Papua New Guinea and taking our course on spiritual warfare). There are a diversity of views in the organization about spiritual warfare. Mrs. Fabian also clarified a few other details of the story for me:
Although
I assumed that the translation helper was a Christian and a number of people
thought that he was (including the Fabians), ultimately there is no way of
determining with any certainty whether the language helper was a Christian.
The question of his spiritual status at the time simply remains unknown.
Mrs. Fabian claims that she and her
husband did not know that the helper was hearing voices in his head.
She says that the helper only related this after the event. This
conflicts, however, with one of the other missionary’s accounts who said that
the Fabians were actively seeking wisdom on how to help the translation helper
deal with the voices.
Mrs. Fabian also relates that the helper picked up the axe for the
purpose of chopping away the voices in his head—not because a voice kept
telling him to kill the missionary. Mrs.
Fabian states that she and her husband did not hold the view that the consultant
“couldn’t possibly have a demon.” Nor
did her husband tell the helper to quit worrying that it might be an evil
spirit.
If the Voices in His Head Were Demonic, Did Satan Gain the Victory?
Absolutely
not! Some might be tempted to think
this way because of the immensity of the tragedy. Nevertheless, in his sovereignty, God does allow for the
agency of the demonic in the accomplishment of his greater purposes.
This is most dramatically illustrated in the brutal murder of his Son.
In the drama of salvation, God allowed the demonic “rulers of this
age” to instigate the death of Jesus Christ (1 Cor 2:6-8).
But God’s wisdom and plan was greater than that of the demons.
For it was through the blood of his dear Son that God made satisfaction
for the sins of people thoughout the world.
This has been an immense and painful tragedy for the Fabian family. I join in praying with the family that just as Jesus used a boy’s broken loaf to feed a multitude, that this broken life would result in the reception of God’s word into the lives of the 20,000 Nabak people. In God’s immeasurable grace and faithfulness, the widow of the missionary was able to bring the translation of the New Testament to completion. It was dedicated in a special service in 1998.