Dan Gilgoff has posted an email exchange with John Hagee, the Christian Zionist of Christian Zionists. During the presidential campaign last year, I and a former friend were discussing the break down in John McCain’s Campaign, especially in relation to the Religious Right, starting with John Hagee’s break.
His comment was to the effect that he admired Hagee because he stuck to his convictions – from which I understood him to mean the anti-Catholic stance as well as the pro-Israel stance. Well, while he may not back away from his pro-Israel above all stance, he has raced away from his previous anti-Catholic stances:
CUFI has recently stepped up outreach to Catholics. What precipitated that , and how is the effort going so far? What are your goals for that outreach?
Yes, we are reaching out to Catholics. These efforts started last year, during the presidential campaign, when Bill Donahue of the Catholic League claimed that I had slighted the Catholic Church while teaching from the Book of Revelation. He was mistaken on this point. But he and I handled this disagreement the way that Christians should. We met. We had fellowship. We learned from one another. A few months after the controversy, he came to our Washington, D.C., Summit as my guest. When I recognized him during my keynote address, he received a rousing ovation from our CUFI audience. I consider him a friend.
Bill and I decided that we should turn our personal reconciliation into a broader reconciliation. We decided to try to bring Catholics and Protestants together on behalf of Israel. Some of Israel’s best friends and strongest defenders are devout Catholics. They should be a part of this movement.
No, I do not think Rome is the great whore of Babylon, but I think it political that John Hagee no longer does.
Read the rest here: Exclusive: Pastor John Hagee on Zionism and John McCain – God & Country (usnews.com).
July 22nd, 2009 11:20 am
At the risk of repeating myself, Hagee may be the “Christian Zionist of Christian Zionists” in your book, but he does not represent me, or numerous other Christian Zionists both in the US and overseas. We respect what he’s done to build bridges between christians and jews and to raise support for Israel, but have major problems with his extremist positions and unbiblical beliefs.
July 22nd, 2009 12:27 pm
OK, here goes:
Whilst Hagee is a very prominent figure and his organisation CUFI is huge, the school of Christian Zionism that they represent is not shared by everyone who would identify as a Christian Zionist. Particular points of conflict include Hagee’s dual-covenant theology, his opposition to Jewish outreach, his lack of support for Jewish believers, his view that everything the state of Israel does is directed by God, and his beligerent/hawkish attitude in military matters. For example, Christian Friends of Israel and the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem are two other Christian Zionist organisations, and I think it’s fair to say that they would differ from Hagee on the points I have mentioned. Likewise for the hebrew christian, messianic jewish, and jewish mission movements – they could all have views which could be considered Christian Zionism, but few would share Hagee’s approach or want to be associated with him.
I hope that’s the sort of thing you were looking for; if not let me know and I’ll try to clarify further.
July 23rd, 2009 12:21 pm
We would do ourselves and the world more good if we would simply study and apply the life and teachings of Jesus instead of arguing over who is saved and who isn’t. Catholics are not the enemy of protestants or Jews. Jews are not the enemy and protestants are not the enemy either. The enemy is Satan.
Getting To Know Jesus is a complete non-denominational Bible study of every event in the life of Christ. Jesus is Lord, Savior and role model. Work on building YOUR relationship with the Son of God and you will know how to answer regarding other groups in the way that Jesus would do.
July 22nd, 2009 11:41 am
Sidefall, could you elaborate?
July 23rd, 2009 1:11 pm
Not to sure how you got that I was discussing hatred of one group or another. I was merely pointing out that when it became expedient to do so, John Hagee dropped the anti-Catholic rants in favor of political alliances.