John Hagee and the Apocalypse
Anti-Catholic More Controversial than Pro-Armageddon
John Hagee endorsed John McCain last week. He has been criticized for his anti-Catholic statements, but his Apocalyptic writings are even more disturbing.
Last week, Pastor John Hagee of the 17,000 member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio endorsed John McCain for president. The day afterwards, the Catholic League issued a statement condemning the endorsement, calling Hagee a "bigot" and asking McCain to retract the endorsement, which McCain has so far refused to do.
The media has paid attention to the controversy stirred up by this because the Catholic League's president, Bill Donahue, is an inflammatory figure in his own right, accusing Hollywood of being "controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular" [MSNBC, Scarborough Country, 12/8/04] and challenged comedian Bill Maher to a fist fight.
The anti-Catholic excerpts in question come from John Hagee's book, Jerusalem Countdown, in which he accuses the church of plunging Europe into the Dark Ages and that Hitler "heard all the fiery anti-Semetic rantings from Chrysostom to Martin Luther" in a Catholic school. (p. 73)
As controversial as they are, they are a part of John Hagee's larger thesis, the central premise of the book, which is that the state of Israel and the events surrounding it during its 60 year existence are signs that the end times are approaching. In Barbara Rossing's book The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revalation, Hagee is quoted as saying "Mark it down, take it to heart, and comfort one another with these words. Doomsday is is coming for the Earth, for the nations, and for individuals, but those who have trusted in Jesus will not be present on Earth to witness the dire time of tribulation." (Quoted from Bill Moyers' Welcome to Doomsday)
Hagee, in 2006, founded Christians United for Israel, which he has described as a "Christian AIPAC" with the purpose of "supporting Israel." To this end, it has strongly opposed the two-state solution advocated by President Bush (Hagee has gone so far as to say that Palestinians never existed before. It also strongly opposes the withdrawl of Israel from the occupied territories and supports striking Iran in defense of Israel.
Sen. Joe Lieberman has spoken highly of both CUFI and John Hagee, comparing the latter to Moses and appeared at their 2007 meeting in Washington, as seen here. Lieberman also supports striking Iran, to the point that he co-authored the Kyl-Lieberman amendment (a non-binding "sense of the Senate" resolution), which says it should be the policy of the United States to "combat, contain and roll back the violent activities and destabilizing influence inside Iraq of the government of the Islamic Republic of iran," as well as to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a Terrorist Organization. The resolution passed 76-22.
John McCain has also made remarks about a potential war with Iran during his campaign, most famously singing "Bomb bomb Iran" (to the tune of the Beach Boy's "Barbara Ann").
So, with a pastor who strongly advocates Bombing Iran to not only protect Israel but to bring about the Apocalypse endorsing a Presidential candidate who has joked about doing such a thing, shouldn't the media be focused on this? Isn't this more troubling and disturbing than drudging up anti-Catholic platitudes?
