Yeah, I thought that was outrageous, too, even for Hagee. But click here (or here) and see for yourself.
Perhaps it wouldn't hurt Mr. Hagee to crack open his Bible once in a while:
- So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me." (John 10:24-25)
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31)
Hi Lee,
ReplyDeleteIs this book in the Fiction Section?
I actually know people who read his books. Oh boy!
What is sad is the number of people that follow and believe a heretic like this. This is taking dispensational theology to the next level.
ReplyDeleteSounds like classic dispensationalism to me. "Jesus came to offer the kingdom to the Jews. They refused and God went to plan B, the church."
ReplyDeleteThe root assumption (the radical disconnection between Israel and the church) has such a hold that everything else gets adjusted around that.
No, definitely not like classic dispensationalism, in fact the Jesus-didn't-come-as-Messiah heresy isn't the only error in the book, which is just a disaster, but he actually gets the "Old Covenant" confused with the "Old Testament" (as in the Bible books) and the promised "New Covenant" with the "New Testament," and then argues that the Old Covenant is still in force! He also doesn't spread the blame for the crucifixion, but blames it on the Gentiles, not at all the Jews. More than once he said the Jews didn't reject Jesus as their Messiah, but that it was Jesus who rejected their desire for him to be the Messiah.
ReplyDeleteCome on Lee:
ReplyDelete"I thought that was outrageous, too, even for Hagee."
I don't know about you, but I'm shocked that it's taken Hagee this long to show how absolutely barking mad he actually is.
I did a book review on a book by Richard Roberts (son of Oral Roberts) called "Debt Blasters" where Hagee contributed a chapter or 2 and it was some of the craziest, biblically confused, mind numbing sludge that I've ever read. At the time, his use of scripture was so nonsensical that I seriously wondered if he had graduated high school.
Jesus never claimed to be Messiah? I would have to check, but I cannot think of one chapter in the gospels that doesn't declare that Jesus was the Christ...and Jesus himself never shuts up about it.
Next thing we'll see is Hagee teaming up with Dan Brown, writing a book about how the "Jesus myth" was dreamed up in the 12thg century and there actually wasn't any Christian church until 1054 when the East/West split was ACTUALLY the invention of the Bible, Christendom and all forms of religion.
Hagee is a certified fruitcake.
Yeah, I don't like fruitcake.
ReplyDeleteHagee is merely following Dispensationalism to its logical conclusions. How could the Jews be God's people after rejecting the Messiah? Simple: Jesus didn't come to be the Messiah. If that's so, then why is Hagee a Christian and not a Jew?
ReplyDeleteI think the right thing to do to pray for him...and to speak to him about it. Ask God to have mercy and show him the error of his way. In fact, James 5: 19,20 (paraphrased here), "If anyone errs from the truth and someone turns him back, know this - the someone who turns the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death."
ReplyDeleteI read the book. I just re-read Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts and Romans, not to see if what he said is correct, but just to feel the comfort of God's Word. Then I felt a desire to go to James 5, and as you know, found there these words: "Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins." How about if we pray for him.
ReplyDeleteWe should pray for Hagee because James 3:1 says that teachers "will be judged with greater strictness." We should also pray for his thousands of followers who have been deceived.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that they aren't comparing what he's saying to scripture. Everything he says -- everything anyone says -- must be tested according to God's word. How else are we going to separate truth from lies?
Dear Friend:
ReplyDeleteI am writing to share with you some important news pertaining to my latest book In Defense of Israel. It has come to my attention that my choice of language and some of the interpretation being given that language in Chapter Ten has caused some confusion and actually led some readers to question whether I believe that Jesus is the Messiah. If people are reaching such a conclusion, then I have clearly failed to communicate my views as well as I should have.
I have decided to release a new edition of In Defense of Israel with an expanded Chapter Ten. The new version will make the same point as the prior one, but using language which cannot mislead anyone about my bedrock belief that Jesus was and is Lord, Savior and Messiah.
I was surprised to learn that some people were interpreting my words as a rejection of this most fundamental Christian belief that Jesus came to earth as the Messiah promised in the Hebrew Scriptures. I have been preaching the gospel for half a century. Almost every Sunday for the past 50 years, I have stood in front of Christian audiences to clearly proclaim the glory of our Lord, Savior and Messiah, Jesus Christ. For the past 30 years, these weekly sermons have been beamed to millions around the world on Christian television.
Given my long years of preaching the gospel to so many, it simply never occurred to me that anyone would question my belief in the fundamentals of the faith. I chose to use challenging language that I hoped would confront the body of Christ to consider events from the Jewish and historical perspective and therefore develop greater empathy for our Jewish friends.
Over the centuries, Christians have been quick to condemn the Jews for failing to recognize Jesus as Messiah. This approach led to replacement theology and the viewpoint of some that God has rejected and broken covenant with the Jewish people. These ideas, in turn, opened the door to a vicious Christian anti-Semitism that led to the Crusades, the Inquisition and countless pogroms.
I tried to challenge this view by highlighting a distinction that has been long recognized in Christian theology between the role Jesus played in His first coming, and the role He will play in his second coming. Jesus came the first time as the suffering Messiah, as exemplified by His persecution, rejection and crucifixion. Jesus will come back as the reigning Messiah, who will rule the world from His throne in Jerusalem as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
We Christians believe that the suffering Messiah was clearly foreshadowed in the writings of the Hebrew prophets. However, most Jews have never read the prophets in this way. The Jews were expecting the reigning Messiah. I know this, you know this, and our omniscient and omnipotent Savior knows this.
God could have sent His Son to earth as the reigning Messiah the Jews were expecting. Instead He chose to send Him as the suffering Messiah, who submitted to the Cross, and I thank Him every day that He did. But I also regret daily that this divine move has led so many of the fallen humans it saved to denigrate and persecute the Jewish people from whom our Lord sprang.
In the expanded Chapter Ten, I will make the same point with language that does not hide my own perspective on the matter. The primary change will involve how I use the word “Messiah.” In the expanded version, I will clarify the clear distinction between the “Suffering Messiah,” the Lamb of God and the “Reigning Messiah,” the Lion of the Tribe of Judah!
I am deeply grieved for any confusion my writing may have caused the body of Christ. It was never intended. I trust this letter and the expanded edition of In Defense of Israel will clarify what I believe. I also hope that we can return our focus to what I had anticipated to highlight all along, the fact that we Christians must shift from condemning the Jews for what they missed to thanking them for what they gave.
Blessings to you and those you love,
Pastor John Hagee
I just posted a letter of clarification written by john Hagee, please read it! and stop accusing him of blasphemy and heresy, or you'll be considered as "the accuser of the bretheren"
ReplyDeleteHagee is not a brethren of any Christian. Though he is a favored pet of todays most unscrupulous jews.
ReplyDelete