I Believe John Hagee Is Becoming a Statesman

It's been interesting to watch the development of a statesman. That's how I feel about my longtime friend John Hagee. He has been tried in the furnace of adversity and, in my opinion, he's come out shining like gold. I can't imagine anyone who has suffered more controversy than Hagee has in the last year.

I had only a moment to greet Pastor Hagee after the Night to Honor Israel event Tuesday before his staff whisked him away, but I looked at him in the eye, told him that I was proud to serve with him in Christians United for Israel (CUFI) and that I believed that he was developing into a real "spiritual statesman." I agree with my friend Rabbi Aaron Rubinger that he is not only one of the great friends of the Jewish people, but I believe he is one of the great Christian leaders of our time.

Full disclosure: Not only am I Hagee's publisher, but I've been involved with CUFI since it was founded in February 2006. I serve as CUFI regional director over Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

Hagee's trial by fire began with the controversy over his book In Defense of Israel, which I had the privilege of publishing. Interestingly, In Defense of Israel won a first place in the "social issues" category of the Retailer's Choice Awards, which were announced at the International Christian Retailer Show in Orlando, Fla., last week.

Hagee had not known about the award, and his staff asked me to present it to him at one of the CUFI events in Washington, D.C., this week. It was very meaningful to him because the book had come under such criticism that he ended up rewriting large sections in order to clarify what he believes about Israel and God's plan of salvation for the Jews. Some Christians accused him of believing in “dual covenant” theology, which teaches that Jews can go to heaven by keeping the Law of Moses.

In the first session at the CUFI Washington Summit July 21-24, there was a 15-minute question and answer period. Someone went to the microphone and asked Hagee about what he believed about dual covenant. If I remember what he said correctly, he said that he never believed in dual covenant--that he didn't believe in it now and never would.

The next controversy that drew national attention came two months after he endorsed Sen. John McCain for president in Texas in early March. McCain won the Republican primary in Texas, and I believe Hagee’s endorsement proved to be pivotal. Sen. McCain had flown to Texas to personally ask for Hagee’s endorsement.

Several weeks later, Sen. Barack Obama came under criticism because of comments his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, made that many consider to be racist and anti-American. I believe that there were those on the left who wanted to create a Rev. Wright-type of controversy around Sen. McCain and tried to connect him to John Hagee, whom they were trying to portray as being as radical as Rev. Wright. Nothing is further from the truth.

Hagee has actually had very little interaction with Sen. McCain. But these leftists, principally a rabbi named Eric Yoffie, took a comment that Hagee made about God using the Holocaust to bring about the founding of Israel as a Jewish homeland in 1948 out of context.

As it's turned out, the Jewish community has generally stood solidly behind Hagee, and at the CUFI conference several Jews even said that what Hagee said is considered mainline theology, particularly in the Orthodox community. One of my rabbi friends, a conservative Jew who admits that he does not take the Hebrew Scriptures literally, told me that there are three different times that the Torah says that nothing happens without it being God's will, which would include, taken literally, that the Holocaust, as horrible as it was, had to be God's will.

These evil people tried to twist that into saying that John Hagee is anti-Semitic. The fact is that no one has probably done more for the state of Israel or the Jewish people in our generation than John Hagee, a fact that is recognized by many. My friend Aaron Rubinger, who attended the CUFI summit as a guest, leaned over during the session and whispered in my ear that John Hagee may be one of the greatest friends of the Jewish people of all time, a comment that he later repeated to John Hagee when we were chatting privately.

Thankfully, that controversy died down quickly, but not before the McCain camp made a knee-jerk reaction and said they rejected Hagee's endorsement. Hagee followed up by withdrawing his endorsement.

During his rousing speech at the Night to Honor Israel event Tuesday Hagee made several comments, emphasizing on each of them what the Jews say about the Holocaust: “Never again!” And in a humorous moment he added what his response will be when asked to endorse a presidential candidate: “Never again!” The crowd laughed and seemed to love it.

The other great controversy was over the Roman Catholic Church. He was accused of calling the Catholic Church the whore of Babylon. That is a term from the book of Revelation, not one that Hagee made up. There are some extremist Bible teachers who have taught that over the years, but Hagee is not one of them. He teaches that the apostate church—the ones who don't follow the Bible and who reject Jesus—will be the great of whore of Babylon.

He recently sat down with Roman Catholics, met with them face to face, and they not only resolved their differences but emerged as great friends.

I've known John Hagee since the early 1980s—before he had a large TV ministry or was famous. I admire his work in San Antonio at Cornerstone Church. He has built that church to 19,000 members. I also admire the family life he has. I know each of his children personally. They are all fine young people, all of them involved in ministry in some way. I've seen him interact with his family, and he's a great role model. To me, John Hagee is the real deal.

However, Hagee has always been a bit of a loner, in my opinion. He's been the kind of person who has put his head down and did what he had to do to get the job done, and didn't really care if he got approval or not from others. That is a great trait, and he has accomplished a lot of great things.

But that trait of doing things yourself does not make it easy to be a networker, and it doesn't make it easy to learn to dialogue with your enemies, or even sometimes to compromise in the sense of learning the things that offend others and perhaps learning to make your statements in ways that do not compromise what you believe, but to say it in a way that is non-offensive to others.

Because I'm his publisher and because I've been involved in decisions on how to word things I can say that John Hagee does not compromise—he believes the Bible, and he does not back off in any way. But he has also learned that the kinds of things that sound great in a Pentecostal sermon and get charismatics excited sometimes are misunderstood or offend people from other religious backgrounds. He has learned to be a real diplomat and move in very high circles, not only among Christians but also in the Jewish community and now among Roman Catholics.

One of the sessions that I enjoyed the most at the CUFI event was a speech by radio talk-show host and columnist Dennis Prager, a Jew from Southern California who came to John Hagee's defense during the recent controversy. Prager said a lot of great things, but one thing that stood out to me was his comment about the difference between being famous and being significant. He said that very rarely are the famous significant, and only rarely are the significant famous. I believe that John Hagee is a significant leader.

I know for a fact that Hagee gets things done behind the scenes, he motivates thousands of people at the grassroots, and he inspires millions more through his books and television program. But it's interesting that, due to his recent media firestorm and of course his own exposure in media through television and books, that he is one of those few people who is both significant and famous.

I encourage you to make plans to attend the CUFI Washington Summit next year, particularly if you live in the states of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Those are the states in the region that I lead. I was very proud of the people from our region who turned out in great numbers and enthusiastically lobbied our congressmen and senators.

I also appreciate the leadership of Bishop Paul Zink, the Florida state director, Pastor Michael Stevens, the North Carolina state director, and Scott Allen, who substituted very capably for Bishop Jim Bolin, the Georgia state director, who is recuperating from an illness. Currently, I am the acting state director for South Carolina, and we had a great group from that state.

There are others who are also involved in leadership, principally Scott and Cindy Thomas of Lakeland, Fla.; Gary Cristofaro of Melbourne, Fla.; and others who are too numerous to mention. I want to publicly thank them for all they've done and say that I had a lot of fun in Washington meeting with them, working with them and solving a few logistical glitches that came up. And as I told the group, just coming to Washington and being a part of history, and seeing what God is doing with Christians United for Israel, is a lot of fun.

Be sure to add your comments at the end of this blog.

Do you subscribe to Charisma or Ministry Today?

Many of you receive The Strang Report because you are on my personal contact list or have signed-up through my blog. If you are not a current subscriber of Charisma, I urge you to begin your subscription today!

Charisma will keep you up-to-date with what God is doing in the world by reporting on stories and subject matters that are not discussed as in-depth anywhere else, and what you read will build your faith. If you respond to this offer by clicking here to subscribe, I’ll send you a free copy of Marc Nuttle’s new book “Moment of Truth” which I recommend in this issue of The Strang Report.

I encourage you to also begin a subscription to Ministry Today, which I believe is one of the most important magazines I publish because it influences the influencers in the church. If you are in active ministry, you’ll appreciate its analysis, prophetic insight and practical help every other month. If you respond to this offer by clicking here to subscribe, I’ll send you a free copy of Sunday Adelaja’s ground-breaking book “Church Shift” with your paid order of Ministry Today.