size and became a quarterly publication, and has since become a monthly periodical. The Christian Research Journal has won several awards of excellence from the Evangelical Press Association. The journal now covers a wider range of issues in addition to cults, such as general apologetics, ethical apologetics, world religions, and theological controversies. It also includes contributed essays by authors who are not staff members with CRI. Ministry post-1989 On June 26, 1989, Martin died at his home of a heart attack at age 60. The news of Martin's death was reported in various Christian periodicals. Hank Hanegraaff succeeded Martin as the ministry's president. Both at the time of Martin's death and then in the immediate years to follow, a number of staff researchers associated with CRI began to emerge as authors of various countercult apologetics books. These authors included Richard Abanes, Robert M. Bowman, Erwin M. de Castro, Craig Hawkins, Robert J. Lyle, Elliot Miller, B. J. Oropeza, Ron Rhodes, and Kenneth Samples. Many of these authors left CRI and started their own organizations or joined others. Controversies Countercult apologetics Due to the controversial nature of the Christian countercult movement, both Martin and CRI have been involved in various theological and social conflicts. During Martin's lifetime a variety of conflicts erupted between himself and various leaders of religious groups, but especially with Mormons. These clashes sometimes led to public debates and even a lawsuit filed by Martin for alleged defamation. For a short time in the late 1970s CRI and Martin were involved in a controversy over claims that apologists had located part of the manuscript of the Book of Mormon, which allegedly had been plagiarized from a novel by Solomon Spaulding. The case was argued in a book, Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? by Wayne Cowdrey, Howard Davis and Donald Scales. However, the case was seriously questioned by Christian apologists and Mormonism critics Jerald and Sandra Tanner in Did Spaulding Write the Book of Mormon? It was also rebutted by Mormon apologists Robert and Rosemary Brown in volume two of their series of books They Lie in Wait to Deceive. Edward Plowman reported on the CRI claims in Christianity Today magazine in July 1977, and then in October 1977 updated his report with evidence that pointed to the collapse in credibility of the claims. A book entitled Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? – The Spalding