SOURCE
By Harmony Daws
2 Sep 10
Conservative star Glenn Beck’s recent “Restoring Honor” event was attended by perhaps hundreds of thousands and covered by major media. Mega-pastor John Hagee was among the religious leaders who spoke; he led a closing prayer to the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” and asked forgiveness of America’s sins. “Through moral and spiritual compromise,” the Zionist leader prayed, “we have allowed our nation to conform to the ways of the world by rejecting the Word of God.” Yet few evangelical pastors have more grossly betrayed the Bible than John Hagee.
Hagee has “made it a practice for 25 years not to target Jews for conversion.”At his Christians United for Israel rallies, he forbids mention of the name of Jesus, in praise or prayer. And although betraying this central tenet of Christianity, the heretical pastor remains popular. Although so controversial that John McCain distanced himself from Hagee’s endorsement in 2008, Hagee appears influential among Tea Partiers. In 2006, Barna polls reported Hagee was regarded by Pentecostals as one the top ten spokesmen for Christianity. Glenn Beck, who is riding a wave of tremendous popularity, has promoted Hagee’s book Can America Survive? 10 Prophetic Signs That We Are the Terminal Generation. This month the book is number seven on the New York Times political bestsellers list. Hagee can be seen on YouTube listing all ten of the signs in conversation with Beck.
It is not surprising that Beck provides a platform to the arch Christian Zionist, as he himself panders to the Anti-Defamation League. Earlier this month Beck related the Biblical fact that Jews were responsible for Jesus’ death. Jumped on by ADL for what it regards as “anti-Semitism,” Beck backtracked. “ I strongly believe that it is a historical fact that the Romans, not the Jews, put Jesus to death…” Beck says he wants to dialogue with ADL so that he can better understand the “injustices” (online hate speech, Christian “homophobia,” criticism of Israel?) that “ADL is fighting.”
In his Beck-blessed bestseller, Hagee says the one thing we won’t survive is rejecting Israel, “the only nation created by an eternal covenant with God.” Hagee says Jews have a divine mandate to possess Palestine and America will be destroyed if we attempt to force a return of any land to the dispossessed Arabs. He compares American pressure on Israel to withdraw from illegal settlements to British attempts to appease Hitler. “God promises that all nations that use their influence to divide the land of Israel will be brought to a swift and severe judgment.” (p. 27)
Because Hagee’s theology lines up with the most zealous, anti-peace right-wingers in Israel, it is no surprise that rabidly anti-Gentile, anti-Palestinian settlers and rabbis receive tremendous financial support from his coffers. Christian Zionists yearly funnel more than a million dollars into their coffers. In fact, they directly contribute to the persecution of the approximately 15,000 Messianic Jewish Christians who live in Israel today. They live “under the perpetual wrath of the haredim, who for the most part alienate and discriminate against them…”
Hagee has even contributed $500,000 of evangelical donations to the city of Ariel, which is noted for its particular persecution of Messianic believers. (See, Jews Against Jesus)
[Recently] Hagee was the guest of honor of the city of Ariel. The pro-settler news outlet Arutz Sheva described the "tribute ceremony" by Hagee's supporters in the sports hall named in his honor. "Hundreds of Ariel residents, led by city officials and Mayor Ron Nachman, were moved by the outpouring of love from the Christian friends of Israel and responded in kind with warm applause and embraces, which reached a peak with the singing of the Israeli and U.S. anthems."
During the gathering, Pastor Hagee delivered an aggressive and patriotic address supportive of the State of Israel and decrying the U.S. government's policy of pushing Israel to make security concessions to the Arabs that threaten its existence. "The Land of Israel is the country and the land of the Jews," Hagee said fervently. He earned loud applause when he declared: "We believe that the Jews are the chosen people, God's beloved, and that Jerusalem will be united forever and not divided, under Jewish sovereignty.” (Ha’aretz .com)
Hagee’s donations also go to Gush Katif, Jewish settlers who resist territorial compromise and land withdrawals. They also go to Young Israel, which Richard Silverstein describes as “one of the most virulent U.S. Orthodox groups supporting the most extreme of the settlers and settlements.” Silverstein reports this about two other recipients of Hagee’s largesse:
"Shurat Ha-Din is an Israeli-American group using 'lawfare' to wage war against the Arab world. It sues Arab banks alleging that they accept deposits from militant groups in violation of U.S. law. The group also hosts “Intellitours” to Israel which include meetings with Shin Bet assassins who’ve perpetrated targeted assassinations.
"Nefesh B’Nefesh resettles new immigrants who make aliya. It makes a special point of directing these immigrants to West Bank settlements and subsidizes their lives there. In effect, this is yet another means of providing ideological and financial support to the settler movement."
Here are some of the Orthodox pro-settler groups receiving money from Hagee:
Gush Katif, $200,000
Young Israel, $150,000
Shurat Ha-Din, $100,000
Nefesh B’Nefesh, $1,000,000
Ariel (settlement), $500,000
Gush Etzion, $150,000
Far right-wing sentiment and the violent, racial/religious supremacism of the Talmud have motivated many murderous statements by respected rabbis in Israel. (See our last two articles.) Real bloodshed is resulting from their vitriol. Jewish terrorist Yakov Teitel has been indicted for the murders of a Palestinian taxi driver and Palestinian shepherd; for the attempted poisoning of Palestinian village residents; and for attempting to murder the son of a Messianic family in Ariel by sending them an explosive disguised as a Purim gift. Teitel is a follower of Rabbi Shapira, whose King’s Torah justifies the killing of non-Jews. (See, Homicidal Rabbi Finds Wide Support in Israel) Dov Lior, another radical rabbi and friend of Shapira, has instructed IDF soldiers, “There is no such thing as civilians in wartime… A thousand non-Jewish lives are not worth a Jew’s fingernail!” Lior does advocate keeping a few non-Jews alive: captured militants who could be used for live human medical experiments! Journalist Daniel Estrin says Rabbi Lior remains “a respected figure among many mainstream Zionists.”
In addition to violating the Biblical mandate to preach the gospel to everyone, Hagee disobeys another important, clearly stated command: to make donations first to the “household of faith”—not unbelieving Jews who persecute Christians. Hagee supports right-wing rabbis and Zionist education—not mercy to displaced Palestinians or defense of Jewish Christians in Israel!
Also, Hagee supports an undivided Jerusalem, which would mean kicking out East Jerusalem’s Arab inhabitants whose ancestors lived there for millennia. “If America puts pressure on Israel to divide Jerusalem we are following the blueprint of the Prince of Darkness,” the pastor has said.
Thus Hagee, alleged representative of Christianity, wages war not only against fellow believers, the Bible and Palestinians—but any possibility of a two-state solution providing Arab autonomy. This means he is against the Mideast peace process itself.
