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Evangelicals seeing the error of 'replacement theology'
By DAVID HOROVITZ
Talkbacks for this article: 33
Dr. John Hagee, the American evangelical pastor who last month announced plans for a Christian-style AIPAC, says the organization is a "canopy group" encompassing Christian supporters of Israel from across America and is coming together "with a speed and harmony I never would have believed possible."
Hagee says he attempted something similar, though on a smaller scale, 25 years ago, but to no avail. "I called 30 pastors together... At the end of the first hour, I lost 29 of them." Now, by contrast, "I called 400 [pastors] and all 400 have agreed to participate in Christians United for Israel."
The San Antonio, Texas-based Hagee specifies three primary aims for the group: one, to unite Christian supporters of Israel to speak "with one voice for a common cause"; two, to establish a "rapid response" capability that can flood Capitol Hill with e-mails, faxes and phone calls at short notice on issues of concern to Israel; and three, to organize "Night to Honor Israel" events in every major US city "so that the Jewish people can see and feel Christians expressing the love of God to them without a hidden agenda."
The new initiative by Hagee, who has collected and distributed millions of dollars to Israeli causes over the past 25 years, raises questions about what precisely he means by "support for Israel" and whether there are conditions for that support. In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, he said "Christians United for Israel is completely loyal to the positions of the Bible" and that he does not seek to influence the Israeli government or to support political candidates in Israel or America. But that "loyalty" to the Bible, in his interpretation, for instance, means not backing the relinquishing of biblical territory.
It's an apparent contradiction that he reconciled as follows: "The Bible says that God gave the Jewish people this sacred land. 'It's yours. Don't give it away. If you choose to give it away, that's your business. We're still friends, although we feel you make the wrong choice. I wouldn't stop supporting Israel because of your choice.'"
Interviewed by the Post at the recent AIPAC national convention in Washington, DC, where he was warmly received by many delegates, Hagee also carefully explained his thinking on the incendiary issue of evangelical attitudes to Jews and Judaism.
In precise and deliberate language, flavored with a rich, deep Texas drawl, he asserted that a growing majority of evangelical leaders do not preach "replacement theology, which teaches that the Church has replaced Israel" and the Jews "have no future in the plan of God." The vast majority of evangelicals, rather, teach that "the Christians have a Bible mandate to be supportive of Israel and the Jewish people without a hidden agenda."
True to that interpretation, Hagee said, "I do not target Jews for conversion."
Nonetheless, he stressed, "If you come into my church [of your own volition], you are asking to hear my witness of Jesus Christ and you're going to get it, wide open."
In your conception, how should a Christian support Israel?
We began to actively support Israel 25 years ago when the American media responded hatefully toward Israel when the IDF blew up the nuclear reactor in Iraq. The media in America was extremely fierce against Israel, and I felt that Israel had done the world a great favor. I proposed to my congregation and the pastors of San Antonio that we gather all the Christians of our city and go down town to the city auditorium and have a "Night to Honor Israel" to show support for the nation of Israel and the Jewish people.
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that so many Christians fall for this ....
But his overall goal of having the U.S.A ruled by Arminians/Dispensationalist Evangelicals is not my cup of tea. I'm afraid of both Talibans and Evangelibans.
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